India fights to keep series alive

Chandigarh: India and Sri Lanka travel to Mohali for the second One-Day International with the visiting side 1-0 up. This means when the teams face each other in the second game on Tuesday.

In the first game in Dharamsala, India stuck with its philosophy that Ajinkya Rahane was in the squad as a reserve opener and handed Shreyas Iyer a debut in conditions loaded heavily in favour of the faster bowlers.

But once Rohit Sharma, standing in as captain for Virat Kohli, and Shikhar Dhawan failed to provide a decent start, the fragile middle order stood exposed.

Led by Suranga Lakmal, the Sri Lankan pacers put on a brilliant exhibition of seam bowling to skittle India for 112. Barring Mahendra Singh Dhoni, no other batsman had any answer to the moving ball. Sri Lanka made short work of the small target to win by seven wickets.

Apart from batsmen applying themselves in the middle, the other aspect India will look to improve is controlling the extras. One of the two no-balls bowled by Jasprit Bumrah cost India Upul Tharanga’s wicket.

To add insult to injury, the free-hit delivery on both occasions went for fours. Bumrah has been guilty in the past of making the same mistake, most notably during the ICC Champions Trophy final in June when Fakhar Zaman got a reprieve before scoring a match-winning century.

Sri Lanka seems to be getting closer and closer to a formula it thinks will be successful in the future, according to Nic Pothas, the interim coach for whom this will be the last series with the national team.

Teams from:

India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Washington Sundar.

Sri Lanka: Thisara Perera (capt), Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Asela Gunaratne, Chathuranga de Silva, Sachith Pathirana, Akila Dananjaya, Dushmantha Chameera, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Perera.

Pitch and conditions
Mohali seldom plays true to what is now an outdated reputation for pace and bounce and there has been some rain on Wednesday.

Stats and trivia

• Mohali has hosted more ODIs - 23 - than any other Indian ground since its debut in November 1993.
• Last year, against New Zealand in which an unbeaten 154 from Virat Kohli and an 80 from Dhoni helped India chase down 286.
• Angelo Mathews needs 63 runs to become the tenth Sri Lankan batsman to 5000 in ODIs.
• Although unbeaten in its seven previous bilateral ODI series, India found itself in a similar situation in the last series too. It was down 0-1 against New Zealand at home in October before winning the two remaining matches.

Match facts
Wednesday December 13, 2017
Start time 1130 local (0600 GMT)