Kolkata: Rahul Dravid Scored an important half-century on Wednesday. As Team India celebrates the coach’s 50th birthday, Dravid would prefer to wait one more day for the perfect gift: an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday.
A total of 373 in the first ODI in Guwahati could not have started the year better, which will culminate with the 50-over World Cup. It was a good day at the office for the Men in Blue as the team’s top eight batsmen registered strike rates of 100 or more in an innings. However, scoring only 70 runs in his last nine overs prevented India from crossing the 400-run mark.
The team management made some tough decisions like selling India’s latest double centurion across formats, Ishan Kishanand 360 degree batsman and match winner Suryakumar Yadav, but the captain Rohit Sharma And Shubman Gill Putting an opening partnership of 143 runs put an end to all the criticism.
The way they instantly hit it off, it was hard to believe that the two are opening together in this format for only the second time.
Gill may not be as flamboyant as the left-handed Kishan, but he has class everywhere. He can find boundaries with excellent timing and placement. More will be expected from the two as Rohit returns to the venue where he made his highest ODI score of 264, against the same opponents when they last met in an ODI here in 2014.
with Virat Kohli between runs with back-to-back ODI hundreds, and shreyas iyerKL Rahul and Hardik Pandya all making useful contributions, it could again be a tough day for the Lankan bowlers in what promises to be another run fest.
Coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma both have fond memories of Eden Gardens and would like to end the series with a win in the second ODI. (Photo by Pankaj Nangia / Getty Images)
The ball is expected to come to the bat well, along with a lightning-fast outfield. In the absence of ace fast bowler Jasprit BumrahThe Indian bowling attack was a bit inexperienced on paper. but young Mohammed Siraj And Imran Malik Did the most damage, sharing five wickets between them.
Sri Lanka has a lot to improve on in such a short span of time. They wasted the new ball by being wayward and their openers failed to get off to a good start. Their fielders were guilty of dropping Kohli twice.
Touchdown Kolkata 📍 A special birthday celebration for #TeamIndia Head Coach Rahul Dravid here 😃🎂#INDvSL https://t.co/FbLvxbYWuN
— BCCI (@BCCI) 1673446868000
Captain Dasun Shanaka said, “We had a plan but the bowlers didn’t execute the basics right. We didn’t use variations during the first 10 overs.” Lanka were more competitive in T20Is.