Rusty India get spin awakening

Colombo: Should India feel great disappointment that they didn’t win Friday’s first One-Day International? For sure. Never mind what happened previously, one run to win with two wickets in hand should translate into only one result, 99.9 times out of 100.

Were Rohit Sharma’s team somewhat rusty? Without a doubt. The captain and Virat Kohli hadn’t played a match for more than a month, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer’s last competitive outing was nearly two and a half months back. Four of the top six were finding their feet, so to speak. But that can’t be an excuse these days, can it? Nor can the fact that this was India’s first ODI since December last.

But were India cocky, complacent and casual, as has been touted in certain quarters? You’ve got to be kidding. First game of the series, 231 for victory. How can one not be anything but switched on?

The R Premadasa Stadium is a great place to bat when the pitch is hard and firm, when hitting through the line is the easiest proposition. The same 22-yard strip can also be a nightmare for batters when it plays slow, when the ball grips the surface, when it turns a mile and makes even journeymen spinners – no disrespect to Sri Lankan captain Charith Asalanka – appear extraordinarily dangerous. Outplayed in the T20s and aware that the gulf in quality between the sides was so huge that they needed to maximise home advantage, Sri Lanka threw up a deck that narrowed the gap between the sides. Barring the unforeseen, much of the same can be expected on Sunday and Wednesday during the second and third ODIs respectively. Sri Lanka have thrown down the gauntlet; it will be interesting to see how India respond.

Batting on Friday was more attritional than attractive, except when Dunith Wellalage and Rohit wielded the willow. Wellalage is the future of Sri Lankan cricket, a former Under-19 captain who, at 21, is a superstar in the making. He has a good head on his shoulders, is blessed with the self-belief that only comes to the very young and has a wide range of strokes that he is unafraid to employ. His left-arm spin is generally tidy, but when there is purchase, he can be a handful, given his propensity to flight the ball and invite the batters to have a go.

Rohit, of course, needs no elaboration. Aware of the hazards that an ageing, softer ball would throw up, he set off at the rate of knots, intent oozing out of every pore during his uninhibited assault on the two new balls. Only a special batter could have reached a half-century in 33 deliveries. The skipper must be feeling a little let down that his colleagues didn’t capitalise on the glorious platform he had established, but Rohit is also the kind that doesn’t dwell too much on the past.

India’s top order must be better off for the game on Friday, the first tie in 149 ODIs at the Premadasa notwithstanding. How will they shape up on Sunday?