Stand-in skipper says loss to Lanka has jeopardised India's chances of making to the final
Upul Tharanga plundered the highest individual score in a one-day international (ODI) in the Caribbean as Sri Lanka steamrollered India by 161 runs in the third match of the tri-series at Sabina Park on Tuesday.
India stand-in skipper Virat Kohli leaves the field after being dismissed by Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews in Kingston on Tuesday. Pic/AFP.
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Replying to Sri Lanka’s mammoth 348 for one in 50 overs, in which Tharanga made an unbeaten 174 and Mahela Jayawardene 107, World Cup and Champions Trophy holders India were dismissed for just 187 in the 45th over.
“It was a bad day at the office,” admitted India’s stand-in captain Virat Kohli.u00a0“We took some time to switch on in the field and by then the Sri Lankans were off and away, and even when we batted I don’t think we applied ourselves as well as we should have.”
India looked a pale shadow of the side that had gone unbeaten in lifting the Champions Trophy in England just over a week earlier.
The dismissal of Kohli, standing in for the injured Mahendra Singh Dhoni, hooking his Sri Lankan counterpart Angelo Mathews to long-leg, virtually ended the match as a contest as India fell to 57 for three in the 16th over.
India now need to win the remaining two games to qualify for the final. “It was a reality check for us, we have to analyse what we did wrong. We have two more games to go. This is going to hurt the guys a little bit,” the 24-year-old said.
Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews promoted himself to number three to join the run feast and raced to 44 off 29 balls as he and Tharanga plundered an unbroken 135 off the final 11.2 overs.
“Hats off to Mahela and Upul, who really set this up for us and allowed the bowlers to complete the job,” he said.
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