Dharamsala: India captain Rohit Sharma blamed poor batting for the humiliating seven-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in the first One-Day International (ODI) here on Sunday.
The Indian batsmen put up with a pathetic show to be dismissed for a lowly total of 112 runs.
Only three Indian batsmen — Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kuldeep Yadav and Hardik Pandya — managed to reach double figures as Sri Lanka pacer Suranga Lakmal registered career best figures of 4/13.
The Sri Lankan batsmen then survived some initial hiccups to chase down the target with a massive 29.2 overs to spare, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
“Two games to go, but having said that we weren’t up to the mark today. Just not enough runs on the board but the bowlers came out there and did whatever they could. Had we had 70-80 runs more we could have had a game on our hands,” Rohit told the media.
“There was something in the pitch even when we were bowling but 113 was just not going to be enough,” he added.
The Mumbai batsman urged his teammates to learn from the debacle and put up a better show in the rest of the series.
“It is important that we as a team thrive on conditions such as these and come out good. Not everyday will we get flat tracks and today was a good learning curve. You need to understand your game and come out of such situations. Today was an eye-opener and we need to regroup and do well,” Rohit said.
“Not such a great experience of losing the first match as a captain — nobody likes losing games and we need to focus on the next two games and come out hard.”
Praising Dhoni for his fighting knock, Rohit hoped that the other Indian players will learn a thing or two from the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman.
Striding to the middle with the hosts struggling at 8/3, Dhoni scored 65 runs off 87 balls with 10 boundaries and sixes.
“He’s (Dhoni) done it for so many years and he knows what exactly needs to be done in such conditions. Someone with him could have made the difference and I am not at all surprised by the way he played. He was the only one battling it out,” Rohit said.
India were reeling at 29-7 in the 17th over before Mahendra Singh Dhoni struck a belligerent 65, with the former captain contributing more than half of the team total.
Sri Lanka’s top order were not completely convincing against the moving ball but Upul Tharanga’s breezy 49 helped them chase down the small target with nearly 30 overs to spare and go 1-0 up in the three-match series.
Smarting from their 1-0 loss in the preceding Test series, Sri Lanka opted to field against an Indian team led by Rohit Sharma in the absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli who has been rested ahead of the team’s imminent tour of South Africa.
India got off to a terrible start losing Shikhar Dhawan, one of their five scoreless batsmen in the match, in the second over which triggered a spectacular collapse.
Angelo Mathews, an all-rounder who has been reduced by injury to an occasional bowler, dismissed Dhawan leg-before and Lakmal sent back Sharma caught behind for two in the fifth.
On both occasions, Sri Lanka used the review option to overturn the original not out decisions.
The double blow completely unhinged India, who lost the top half of their batting order to score their first 16 runs.
