India’s unbeaten run in the ICC Champions Trophy since the last edition of the tournament ended in the worst possible manner, as Sri Lanka thrashed the defending champions by staging the most successful chase in the history of the Champions Trophy.
Shikhar Dhawan’s 10th ODI hundred and half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni had powered the Men in Blue to 321-6 but it proved insufficient after a remarkable Sri Lankan batting effort.
India began their bowling innings on a good note with Bhuvneshwar Kumar sending back Niroshan Dickwella for just seven runs but the island nation took command of the proceedings through a magnificent 159-runs partnership between Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis before both were run-out for 76 and 89, respectively. Captain Angelo Mathews then scored a fifty in his comeback match to ensure his side cross the 321-run mark without much trouble.
Speaking after the match, India skipper Virat Kohli did not blame his players for their failure to defend the big total and instead praised the Sri Lankan batsmen for the remarkable chase.
“I think Sri Lanka played well,” said Kohli when asked if India’s bowling or batting could have been better. “That fact is also present. We’re playing against a team. We’re not playing amongst ourselves.”
“I personally thought that we had enough on the board halfway — you know, during the break. And I think our bowlers also bowled decently well. If batsmen come out and play like that and everyone plays well, you have to give credit to the opposition as well. We’re not invincible. We are playing against other sides who are also Champion sides,” said Kohli.
India’s defeat, meanwhile, has thrown Group B wide open, as all four teams are level on two points and can make it to the last four by winning their final group games.
Kohli reiterated that he was happy with the scoreboard but admitted the team should have scored at a fast rate during some phase of the match. The Virat Kohli-led side followed a familiar plan of not losing a wicket in the first 10 overs before accelerating towards the end. And although they scored 103 in the final 10 overs, they failed to score at a fast pace against Sri Lanka’s part-time bowlers which took the momentum away from them in the middle overs.
“From the batting point of view, as I said, I thought we paced it well. I thought we had enough on the board. In hindsight, when you look back, maybe you think of phases that we could have accelerated, but I don’t see that as a major issue. Maybe we will have to push harder now in the next few games to give us a 20-run cushion. Maybe after seeing a result like this, because we’re playing on the same ground as well,” he said.
“We obviously have to consolidate and then explode in the end, and that’s the way we always play. We don’t — we’re not a side that always plays explosive cricket throughout the 50 overs, but if a side comes out here and plays cricket with that kind of mindset and executes their shots so well, then you have to take your hat off sometimes and say very well played,” he added.
Kohli further defended his bowlers after the awful performance. India’s in-form pace trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav rarely caused troubles for the Sri Lankan batsmen while the lone frontline spinner in the team- Ravindra Jadeja was taken to cleaners. Hardik Pandya was equally unimpressive with the ball, as Sri Lanka chased down the daunting total with eight balls to spare.
“You always see the hindsight when you lose games of cricket. You trust your bowlers to control runs, and, you know, have good lengths and have your covers when they get out. Generally, we wanted to do in this game. We did that in the last game as well. Sometimes it comes off. Sometimes it doesn’t. That doesn’t mean you don’t think what if we had done something different? You back a side, and you go with it. When things don’t go well, obviously, you address those things,” said the skipper.
“But you expect them to execute those things. As batsmen, we can’t score every time. As bowlers, you can’t literally bowl consistent line and length every game that you play. So some guys will have off days. On outfields like these and pitches like these, you will have sides who will bat well,” he added.
Explaining the reason behind not giving the ball to Yuvraj Singh when the bowlers were struggling to get the breakthroughs, Kohli said:
“If the team is four or five down and you have to get few overs out of the way from the part-timer, then Yuvi can be used, but at that stage, I did not think — because Jadeja was also going for runs, and it was difficult to bowl with the breeze going that side to the shorter boundary. If Jadeja is finding it difficult, then obviously Yuvi would have found it a bit more difficult as well.”
The 28-year old termed the match as a ‘bad day’ and urged his teammates to forget it and move on, as India is gearing up for a virtual quarterfinal against South Africa in their final group game.
“When you collapse as a batting unit, you don’t sit down and think of your life’s over. You just move on and say it’s a bad day. Forget about it. That’s what. In a Test match, you have a lot to think about because the game goes on for five days. But I think in shorter format cricket, you have to forget it and move on because you’re playing in three days time again, and we have to be fresh as a team. We have to get back into that same mindset and come out and try to do the same things again. If a team — as I said, if a team plays well, you have to take your hat off,” concluded Kohli.