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Going into the first of the three-match One Day International (ODI) series, the Indian team was favorites to start on a winning note. Still, their middle and lower order batting struggled in the opening clash, as they tied with the host. The second SL vs Ind 50-over encounter will now occur on August 04, 2024, at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Looking at the way the Blue Brigade dominated the home side in the three-match T20I series under the captaincy of Suryakumar Yadav, it felt to be a cakewalk for the ODI side, which has got some of its senior players back in the team, but they weren’t clinical in the back end of both batting and bowling department.

On winning the toss during the first SL vs Ind contest, the host captain, Charith Asalanka, opted to bat, expecting the track to get slowed down in the evening. They kept on losing wickets at regular intervals from the start, as opener Pathum Nissanka stood at one end for a long period. The slowness of the surface was quite intact as the batters couldn’t play their free-flowing shots.

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Ay 101//5 in the 27th over, the home side looked to be bundled out for a below 200-run score. Nissanka celebrated his 56-run knock, with the help of nine boundaries at a strike rate of around 75 before being dismissed. They lost two wickets quickly in between, after which the 46-run partnership for the eighth wicket between Dunith Wellalage and Akila Dhananjaya gave them some stability in the middle.

The former of the stand remained unbeaten on 67 runs in 65 balls, shouldering on seven boundaries and a couple of sixes, to carry the side to 230/8 in their allotted 50 overs.

India started quite quickly in the and dominated with a 75-run opening partnership in the 13th over, but couldn’t carry on from the point of time. Suddenly, they lost three wickets for 12 runs. Virat Kohli was trapped on the back foot, while Shreyas Iyer failed to judge the pace of Asitha Fernando during the SL vs Ind game.

KL Rahul and Axar Patel batted well to put up a 57-run stand between them for the sixth wicket. Shivam Dube was playing the big shots to take them to 230/9 when the visitors needed just a run to get over the line. Arshdeep Singh, without any reason, swung his bat wildly and was adjusted LBW to the Sri Lanka captain, who finished with 3/30, to end the game in a tie.

The questions, after the SL vs Ind first ODI will be on the Indian batters who were not able to take the team through even after getting set, while their weakness against spin has been a regularity of late. The bowling wasn’t decent against the lower-order batter too.

The Last Five Matches For SL vs IND

In the last five encounters of the SL vs Ind in the 50-over format, the Indian team is ahead with a 4-0 margin, while the last game ended in a tie.

That was the 10th tie of the Rohit Sharma-led side, with the last one coming in 2018 against West Indies in Visakhapatnam.

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SL vs IND Teams:

Sri Lanka’s Probable XI: Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Kushal Mendis (wk.), Sadeer Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Akila Dhananjaya, Asitha Fernando, Mohammad Shiraz/Chamika Karunaratne.

India’s Probable XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk.), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.