Should have go that one run: Rohit Sharma after the tie against Sri Lanka

India and Sri Lanka began the ODI series in Colombo just how they left things in T20Is in Pallekele — playing a TIE!!

However, the roles were reversed. This time, it was India at the receiving end, losing their last five wickets for 41 runs. It was Sri Lanka that fired guns with their spin, bowling nearly 38 overs of spin from the 47.5 bowled in the innings. Like Suryakumar Yadav and Rinku Singh in Pallekele, Charith Asalanka’s golden arm did the trick this time, dismissing both Shivam Dube and Arshdeep Singh on successive deliveries with only one run left in the bank for the hosts. 

India would rue missing out after a good start from the skipper Rohit Sharma who scored 58 off 47 balls while chasing only 230. Five of India’s top seven batters crossed the 20-run mark but only one of them went beyond 35. Rohit felt the target was well within range but the incessant fall of wickets kept breaking the momentum. 

“The scores are gettable, it's just that you have to bat well to get that score. We batted well in patches. There was no consistent momentum through the game for us,” he said in the post-match presentation. 

“We started really well with the bat but we knew the game will start after 10 overs once the spinners come in to bowl,” he added about the role played by the Sri Lankan spinners picking nine wickets between them. 

KL Rahul and Axar Patel added 57 runs for the sixth wicket but once they went back in quick succession, the hosts forced their way into the game.

“With the partnership that KL and Axar had, we again came back into the game pretty well. In the end, little disappointing, 14 balls, 1 run to get. These things happen. Sri Lanka played well,” Rohit assessed the game.

However, he also added, “We should have got that one run.”

Asalanka, Sri Lanka’s skipper, felt his team should have also restricted India before 230 but also reckoned that batting got a little easier under lights. “We should have done a bit more well to restrict them under 230. In the afternoon, it turned more. Under lights, it became easier to bat,” he said after the match. 

Rohit, however, felt the conditions didn’t change much. “The pitch remained the same. There was bite in the first 25 overs when we bowled and it was the same for them as well. As the game went on, the seam wore off for both teams and it was a bit easier to bat. It's not where you can just come and play your shots and get runs. You have to apply yourself and dig in really well to get that score,” Rohit said in his assessment of the conditions. 

Regarding his final spell, the Sri Lankan captain said it was down to the match-ups that he brought himself to bowl. “The left-hander came in to bat and I thought I could bowl as it spun a lot. I am happy about the energy in the field and the way the boys played in the second half. Dunith's knock and Nissanka batted extremely well,” said Asalanka after his maiden game as Sri Lanka’s full-time ODI captain. 

The 21-year-old allrounder Dunith Wellalage was adjudged the Player of the Match for his unbeaten 67 off 65 balls with the bat and later picking 2/39 with the ball. Wellalage revived Sri Lanka from 101/5 at his entry point to post 230/8 on the board. Later, he dismissed the Indian openers, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. 

"The wicket was helping spin, so I wanted to put them under pressure. Me and Liyanage wanted to put on a partnership, and then had a good partnership with Hasaranga,” he spoke about his performance.

“The wicket was slow, we planned to score about 220,” he added. 

The two teams will lock horns in the second ODI on Sunday (August 4).

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