Abhishek Nayar, India’s assistant coach, said in his attempt to explain the unexpected loss which was achieved by Sri Lanka during the second ODI match “Was it a shock? I would say yes.” He attributed this result to circumstances full of spin that are capable of changing the game entirely.
Thus, it was leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay who wrecked havoc with six wickets giving visitors their 32-run defeat in Colombo on Sunday, pointing out that India were indeed weak against spin again.
“…there is a surprise. But you anticipate and understand that in these conditions the game can turn on its head because there is so much spin on offer,” Nayar said at the post-match press conference according to Parami News.
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On a pitch that turned considerably for the spinners, India were chasing 241 and finished at 208 all out in 42.2 overs. In addition to these facts, except Captain Rohit Sharma virtually all other Indian batsmen struggled in an earlier game as well.
“Even if you look at the last game, it was relatively easy to score against the new ball. As the ball got older, the conditions when batting second got slightly tougher. Sometimes in tough conditions, especially in the 50-over format, this happens,” he added.
This will be discussed by the think tank as described by Abhishek Nayar.
“We want to go back and understand and rectify why it happened twice in a row. The day before yesterday we were able to stitch partnerships but today we lost quite a few wickets in a bundle.”
While keeping right-left batting combination unchanged. India swapped their middle order around with Shivam Dube (0) promoted up to number four position. Shreyas Iyer (7) and KL Rahul (0) were sent at numbers six and seven respectively.
“My belief is that position only matters if you’re playing in different areas of a game in any sport. We lost wickets in the middle phase, and that’s where the middle order batters batted. It’s not as if middle order batters batted towards the end.”
“The thought process was right. When it doesn’t work out, these questions are asked often. But I’ve always believed that if a middle order batter bats as a middle order batter, it is the right decision,” Nayar said.
According to Nayar, side batting second is under more pressure.
“There is less pressure when you are batting first. The pressure mounts on you while chasing because you have to keep an eye on the run rate; wickets.”
“Whenever you bat first, you often have partnerships. Wellalage batted really well both in the last game and this game. They scored important runs in the lower order.”
