After India’s series defeat by Sri Lanka, Rohit Sharma, the captain, has raised his concern over Indian team lack of spin dominance and less utilization of sweep shots on a challenging pitch.
The hosts won the series in convincing fashion as they triumphed 2-0. This marks Sri Lanka’s first ODI series win against India in the last 27 years.
Sri Lanka defeated India by 110 runs on Wednesday at the R Premadasa Stadium despite innings of 96 runs from Avishka Fernando and five wickets from Dunith Wellalage during the third match of this series.
This was India’s first ODI assignment after their fateful home defeat to Australia in November last year in the ICC Cricket World Cup final, before Champions Trophy happening next year at Pakistan, according to Parami News.
Rohit spoke about the game during a post-match press conference saying that unlike India who were erratic when it came to going with sweep shots and playing them consistently.
“They were consistent with sweeps, taking their chances. This did not score many through straight drive. They didn’t use their feet as much as we expected. It was all about sweeping and hitting that deep square leg and midwicket fielders. That is something we failed on as a batting unit. We didn’t play enough sweeps, reverse sweeps or paddle sweeps; used our feet too much. That was the difference,” said Rohit.
“They got a lot of runs today square of wicket [the Kusal Mendis – Avishka Fernando partnership reached 82]. They were turning it around and then sweeping so that they made them move left-right. The batted smartly while we didn’t do,” he added.
Rather than dominating Lankan spinners Men in Blue had been under siege according to Indian skipper. Also, players are free to develop their own techniques for negotiating spinners on turning tracks said him.
“It begins from your practice sessions because when you get to those sessions, I see the guys working hard in the nets whenever we get the chance to train as well. When we want to implement different shots, I don’t see there being a lack of effort,” he add.
During powerplays, Rohit advised that since these pitches slow down later on, one should aim at scoring as many runs as possible within the first ten overs.
“My personal effort was to ensure that I score as many runs as I could. It wasn’t like after the powerplay, I wanted to throw my wicket away. With wickets falling around me and just for trying to play some positive shots, unfortunately got out. My batting plan is pretty simple and straightforward,” he concluded.
