New Delhi: Indian skipper Shikhar Dhawan admitted that his team was at least short by 50 runs in the third ODI against Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Friday. India could only post an under-par score of 225 runs after Dhawan won the toss and elected to bat first.
In fact, India was in a commanding position at 147-3 before rain stopped play. After the rain interruption, the Indian batsmen veered off the track as Akila Dananjaya and Praveen Jayawickrama breathed down the neck of the visitors. Both the spinners scalped three wickets each to push India on the backfoot. In fact, three Indian batsmen were able to go past the 40-run mark but none of them could go on to make a big score.
However, despite putting a below-par score on the board, the Indian bowlers were able to give some competition to Sri Lanka. Rahul Chahar scalped three wickets on debut whereas Chetan Sakariya also picked two wickets in his maiden ODI game. However, the Indian fielding did let their bowlers down as they were not able to grab their chances.
But Sri Lanka was finally able to get a win against India after Avishka Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksa scored half-centuries each to help their team get close to the target of 226 runs.
Shikhar Dhawan said in the post-match presentation, “It didn’t go our way. We tried some new players. We got a good start but again we lost too many wickets in the middle overs. We were 50 runs short in the end. I am glad the players made their debut because everyone was in quarantine for such a long time, and we had this chance because we sealed the series in the last game. I always analyze where I can improve and get better in strategies. Looking forward to the T20 series. Of course, we were positive that we could defend the target but we knew that we were short. The boys gave a good fight and it was interesting in the end. We always have to keep learning”.
India was able to clinch the series by 2-1 as they had won the opening two matches. The first T20I will be played at the same venue on Sunday.