Failure of the middle order to stay long and score runs:
India were 145 for 2 by the end of 30 overs. With 8 wickets in hand, they could have easily crossed the 280 run mark. They failed as Ajinkya Rahane got out during the batting powerplay and Mendis dismissed Dhawan on 94 in the 39th over. Following that, Rayudu, Karthik and Binny got out without contributing much to the team’s score. While Ashwin who bats at number 8, is more than handy as a batsman, it was too much to expect him to put runs on the scoreboard.
Sri Lanka’s bowling in the depth overs:
India scored 119 runs in the last 20 overs. In the batting powerplay, between 34 to 38 overs, Sri Lanka conceded merely 28 runs. At that time, India had a well-settled Shikhar Dhawan and in form Ajinkya Rahane in the middle. The lack of runs in these overs pushed the other Indian batsmen to play a stroke too many in the remaining overs. And they failed as Sri Lanka continued to bowl well.
Allowing Sri Lankan spinners to control the game:
Traditionally, Indians are very good players against the spinners. The current lot of batsmen is not too bad either when they tackle spin. But on Friday, Sri Lankan spin trio of Ajantha Mendis, Sachithra Senanayake and Chaturanga de Silva pinned down Indian batsmen. They bowled 30 of Sri Lanka’s 50 overs and gave away 152 runs; with the economy rate just above 5 runs per over. In addition, they scalped 8 of India’s 9 wickets.
Missing out on grabbing their chances in the field:
First, Rahane and Dhawan collided with each other and dropped Kusal Perera in the 4th over of Sri Lankan inning. Then, Ravindra Jadeja could not hold on to a tough chance a few overs later. Jadeja had another opportunity to catch one. But while running in from the deep, he could not hold onto the catch diving forward. Then, in the last over of the game, Shikhar Dhawan dropped Thisara Perera. It was perhaps the easiest of chances Indian fielders had got. Dhawan made a mess of it and let it go through his hands.
In addition to that, Dinesh Karthik failed to disturb the stumps in time to dismiss Sangakara. In the 30th over of the Lankan inning, the ball missed Sangakara’s bat and lobbed hitting his pads. Dinesh Karthik had to stretch to collect the ball. He did that fine. But he could not dislodge the bails when Sangakara was out of his crease. Karthik’s adrenaline rush helped Sangakara to score a match winning hundred.
Mohammad Shami was expensive:
Shami was once again among the wickets as he got out 3 Sri Lankan batsmen. But he gave away 81 runs in his 10 overs. Considering, India did not put too many runs on the board; his 8 runs per over spell did not help India’s cause to win the game.
