Confident India seek series win

Overview:

Sri Lanka vs India, second ODI
R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
20 July, 03:00 PM local

The first game of the three-match ODI series turned out to be a walk in the park for the new-look Shikhar Dhawan-led Indian team. Registering a seven-wicket win with more than 13 overs to spare, the visitors will be confident about replicating their performance in the second game.

Captain Dhawan would be especially pleased with how the spinners bowled in the first game, with Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya managing to extract good spin from the surface at the R Premadasa Stadium.

Sri Lanka looked hapless during the opening match, especially the bowlers who didn't really manage to trouble the Indian batting line-up that took them to the cleaners. There were a couple of positives for the hosts though that came at the start and the end of their batting innings.

Avishka Fernando and Minod Bhanuka looked very comfortable dealing with the Indian opening bowlers, putting on a solid 49-run stand in the process. And towards the end of the innings, when it looked like Sri Lanka would be bowled out for a below-par score, Chamika Karunaratne and Dushmantha Chameera added 40 crucial runs for the ninth wicket in just 19 balls.

Dasun Shanaka, captaining Sri Lanka for the first time in this series, will be looking for a better performance from the bowlers in the hope of forcing the series to a decider.

Sri Lanka are second to bottom on the Super League table with only 13 points in 10 matches. Only the top seven teams (apart from India) will qualify directly for the 2023 World Cup. Sri Lanka will need to boost their position by another four to five spots to stand a chance.

Remember the last time

After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, the openers started well for Sri Lanka. However, the introduction of spin turned the game around for India as the hosts lost their way in the middle overs. A late flourish from the tail propelled Sri Lanka to 262/9 in 50 overs, which was a par-total on the sluggish Premadasa strip.

Chasing 263, Prithvi Shaw took the game away from Sri Lanka in the Powerplay with a stylish 24-ball 43. Ishan Kishan, making his ODI debut on his birthday, got off the mark with a six and went on to score his maiden ODI fifty. Dhawan played a steady innings of 86* and was well supported by Manish Pandey (26) and debutant Suryakumar Yadav (31*) as India chased the targets with 80 balls to spare. Prithvi Shaw was awarded the Player of the Match for his sublime innings that laid the foundation for India's chase.

What they said:

Shikhar Dhawan (India captain): "All our boys are very mature as well as aggressive. The way they played today was tremendous and I am very happy. It was good to be on the other end and watch Prithvi and Ishan. I was telling them to take it easy actually. The way these young boys play in the IPL, they get lots of exposure and they just finished the game in the first 15 overs only."

Dasun Shanaka (Sri Lanka captain): "We started well but the ball was hanging a bit, they bowled well. I am happy to take responsibility of the captaincy. The Indians batted aggressively. We needed to vary the pace as the ball was coming on to the bat nicely. In the next game, we will have to improve on that."