When Sri Lanka ended up at 230/8 in their allotted 50 overs, and India made a flying start with a 75-run opening stand in the 13th over between captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, one hardly felt any issue for the Blue Brigade during the opening ODI of the three-match series at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
However, their batting in the middle order didn’t click, and they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals, which put pressure on the whole batting line-up. Another problem for them was the set batters not scoring huge knocks. Rohit Sharma managed to celebrate his 58 runs in 47 balls, shouldering on seven boundaries and three sixes but failed to capitalize.
In the end, when the spinners put the web around the batting order, it was hard for the new batters to get settled in the dry surface, which was spinning all around and making batting quite difficult at the end. India didn’t fall short but couldn’t get over the line either.
Former Indian players react to unnecessary use of Shubman Gill by Rohit Sharma
At one point in time, India was well in control of the game, having found Sri Lanka on 114/5 in 31 overs on that tricky surface. There was no need to do any experiment, especially in the very first game of the series. But Rohit Sharma introduced Shubman Gill into the attack.
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That was just the second time the Punjab-born was required to bowl in this format, having done the job against the Netherlands during the 2023 ODI World Cup in Bengaluru, where he gave away 11 runs in two overs without any success.
However, in that single over against Sri Lanka, Gill conceded 14 runs, as Janith Liyanage smacked him for a six over the deep midwicket region before Dunith Wellalage finished the over with a boundary behind the square region to collect the required momentum in the game.
After that over, the home side managed to score 116 runs for the loss of three more wickets in the rest 19 overs, while Wellalage ended with an unbeaten 67-run knock in 65 balls.
The former Indian wicket-keeper batter Saba Karim, while speaking to Sony Sports, reckoned that the two-time champions could have gone Shivam Dube in the bowling department, who ended with 1/19 in four overs. Even though he reasoned that probably the team management is planning to find more bowlers as they build towards the upcoming ICC event.
“The thinking was the same as Asalanka introducing himself in the attack for Sri Lanka or what India tried in T20Is with Suryakumar Yadav giving the responsibility to Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh and even himself to bowl.” The 56-year-old expert expressed at the end of the first game. “But again, this was the first time Gill was bowling in international cricket, and his over turned out to be quite expensive, and Sri Lanka subsequently grabbed the momentum.”
“India (Under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy) needed an extra spin option on this ground, given the conditions. Maybe India could have gone with Dube for a few more overs, and since they did not go that way, Gill was tried, and it did not prove to be the right decision.” The Bihar-born remarked during the conversation.
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The former opening batter of the Blue Brigade, Ajay Jadeja, however, felt that the experiment would have been understandable had the game gone away from reach, as was the case during the third T20I game when Suryakumar Yadav and Rinku Singh rolled their arms.
“That day, it was understandable because when Rinku came to bowl, it was a lost cause for India. But today, when India was in control of the situation, they shouldn’t have let go of it.” The 53-year-old noted.
The second of the three-match ODI series will take place on August 04 at the same ground.