Indian team would never have thought that they will dominate the Sri Lankan team the way they did before the start of the series. India dominated the home team in the five match one-day series to win it 4-1.

It was expected that the Sri Lankan team will come back strongly in the shorter format but that also didn’t happen as India routed Sri Lanka by 39 runs which is a big margin even in the 50 over cricket. To add to their embarrassment, Sri Lanka was bowled out in the 18th over.

So, overall it was a commanding performance by the Indian team as they played a perfect match, Sri Lanka on the other hand has a lot to worry about as they can’t be playing this sort of cricket a month before the T20 World Cup.

Let’s have a look at some of the good and bad performances from both teams.

India:

Hits:

Virat Kohli: One just can’t keep him out of action. He was the man of the series in the ODI’s where he hit two beautiful tons, but he was not done and once again played a match winning innings. Kohli came after the fall of Gambhir’s wicket and played beautifully. His timing and the way he penetrated the gap was simply beautiful to watch. Watching Kohli bat in the form that he is, is the best thing that a cricket fan could ask for.

Irfan Pathan: If Kohli and Gambhir have done the job for India in this tour then it has to be Irfan Pathan who has done it with the ball. Pathan is getting better each time he comes on to bowl; Pathan once again swung the new ball and took three early wickets to set the game for India.

Ashok Dinda: Dinda was the man responsible for Sri Lanka’s late order collapse. He finished with four wickets and conceded only 19 runs. He bowled with good pace and surprised batsmen with the bounce he got.

Flops:

Umesh Yadav: Yadav has struggled on this tour. The two one day match that he played, he was very expensive. In this match as well he bowled a lot of half-volleys and was taken for runs by Jayawardene. Yadav is a wicket-taker but control is his biggest problem. He went for eight runs per overs in this match.

Sri Lanka:

Hits:

Mendis-Herath as a pair: Indian batsmen were going all guns blazing and it was these two Sri Lankan bowlers that stopped the run-flow. Both Herath and Mendis bowled at a tight line and did not give batsmen any room to improvise. It was their efforts that kept India from reaching a score close to 170.   

Flops:

TM Dilshan: Dilshan will look to forget this series as quickly as he can. In the one-day series he could only manage one fifty plus score. In this match he got out on the first ball that he faced. It is true that Dilshan got a good ball from Pathan but he has been falling over a lot.

Lasith Malinga: Malinga’s poor show against Indians continued as he failed to pick any wickets. Malinga was not ultra expensive but you will expect better from the bets T20 bowler of the world. Malinga will have to find a way to get these Indian batsmen out because he may be bowling to them in the T20 World Cup.

By Indian Sports News