Although India captain Rohit Sharma played down the Jasprit Bumrah no-ball that let off opener Upul Tharanga, Sri Lankan coach Nic Pothas believed it was one of the turning points in the low scoring opening encounter of the three-match series here in Dharamsala.
Defending a total of 112, India made early inroads by dismissing Danushka Gunathilaka (1) and Lahiru Thirimanne cheaply (0). Tharanga was on 11 when he was caught by Dinesh Karthik at gully and the batsman started walking back to the dressing room before being held up by the umpires to check the no-ball. And it proved to be another Fakhar Zaman moment.
In the Champions Trophy final at The Oval, the Pakistani opener was caught behind for three off a no-ball by Bumrah and he went on to post a match-winning 114.
“I firmly believe that there were two massive moments in the game,” Pothas told journalists. “The toss was one and the no-ball to Upul Tharanga. We are suddenly 15 for three and that is a hugely different situation. We have looked at two situations where for me they sort of defined the day,” Pothas went on to say.
Tharanga has been Sri Lanka’s best batsman this year with over 900 runs at an average of 47. He went on to top score with 49 runs to help Sri Lanka to a comprehensive seven-wicket win with 29 overs to spare.
Rohit Sharma, however, felt that India’s batting cost them the game. “We lost the game with the bat and not with the ball. It will be unfair to single out one individual especially a bowler. I think we as a batting group failed to tackle the situation. I wouldn’t say it cost us dearly because there was not enough runs on the board. If we would have posted 180 or 190 it would have been different, but defending 110, you can hardly do anything except with the new ball to get three or four wickets and bounce back.”
Pothas also praised the efforts of Lakmal, who has bowled well all tour. “Look, Suranga is a world class bowler. If you give him the conditions that suit him, it doesn’t matter to whom he bowls. He is always going to make life difficult. In his career so far he has had the joy of bowling on flat, dry wickets. You give him some greenery, he will be brilliant. In South Africa at the start of this year, he was superb again. He is a class performer, gutsy individual and great guy to have in the team.”
The win helped Sri Lanka to end a 12-match losing streak in ODI cricket starting from July this year. “Yes, it is a good place to be the dressing room at the moment. We enjoyed the win. We haven’t had a lot of success in white-ball cricket this year. We are in a position now things are quite settled and the players understand their roles. We used a bit of strategy and very pleased with the way things worked out for us today.”
Sri Lanka also benefited immensely with their star performer Angelo Mathews bowling again. The former captain sent down five overs and conceded just eight runs while dismissing Shikhar Dhawan. “Angelo looked great again. He has got his workload in. The physio has done some great work with him. He is not full capacity yet. Even the way he handled that situation with the bat showed how important he is for us.”
