The Indian batsmen have to sit down and reevaluate their one on one plans against the spinners after 110 runs heavy defeat on third ODI that saw India losing a series to Sri Lanka for the first time in 27 years.
India were all out for 138 runs at 26.1 overs when chasing a target of 249 with Sri Lankan spinners Wellalage, Theekshana and Vandersay doing some big damage.
“I don’t think it’s an issue but something we should seriously look into – our individual game plans – and yes, it is something that indeed put under pressure within this series,” Rohit told the broadcaster when asked about his side’s troubles against his opponents spinners.
Though disappointed with the results, Rohit insisted that what has just transpired is not a doomsday scenario but rather areas which need improvement.
“Loss of series doesn’t mean apocalypse. These guys have been playing very well over the past few years; very consistent. You will lose the odd series,” said Sharma.
“We lost the series and I feel there are a lot of areas we need to look at rather than the positives. We need to go back and look at what we need to do when we come up against conditions like this,” he added.
Rohit who recently led India to T20 World Cup victory dismissed suggestions by some people that they took their opponent lightly during the latter’s matches with them.
“No! It’s laughable. There is no complacency while you play for your country,” reiterated Sharma.
The Indian cricket team captain admitted that they did not perform well enough throughout this series.
“We didn’t play good cricket through the series so far so here we stand. Throughout, there were a few positives too. How good our middle-order was and how smart our spinners bowled,” said Rohit
According to Rohit, toss had played a crucial role in ODI series. Sri Lanka were able to tie the opener and then won second game by 32 runs after restricting India.
“We have to give credit where it is due. Sri Lanka played better than us. We looked at the conditions and wanted to take pace off the ball, and that’s why we went with our combination,” commented Sharma.
Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka said he was ‘happy’ after leading his struggling side to a series win over India.
“Right now I am happy captain and I think throughout the series team has been doing all things well. We knew they had a very strong batting line-up and we just wanted to go with our strength which is spin bowling,” he said.
“Actually, right now we are in a great mood especially Sanath Jayasuriya our coach did some changes in the team environment which boys really enjoyed it”.
