Prior to the ODI series against India began at RPS last Friday, if anyone had said that Sri Lanka were going to win this, most would have said that person was daydreaming. This was world’s number one ranked team with big guns Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharam back in the side. Sri Lanka’s confidence was at a low ebb following the T-20I series loss. Too many batting collapses at Pallekele had turned the fans away. But by the end of the tour, the fans were back at RPS cheering their team. This was simply outstanding.
For a Sri Lankan cricket fan there’s no better feeling than to beat India. This week the big brother was cut to size. They suffered embarrassing collapses unable to play spin.
Sri Lanka’s planning have been below par in recent years, but with Sanath Jayasuriya as the Head Coach, they had got their act together. India’s batters prefer the ball coming on to the bat but when the track does a little bit, they were susceptible against the turning ball. This series ended exposing India’s inadequacies against spin. This was a kind of pitch where you need to sweep excessively to score your runs. Yes, the sweep is a high risk shot and the chances of you getting out are high. But there’s no other way to survive on this track. Sri Lanka got their act together using the sweep to good effect. To deny a strong Indian outfit even a single win in the ODI series was a terrific effort indeed.
As a result of the series win, Sri Lanka edged past England and secured the sixth spot in ICC Rankings. That’s the highest ranking that Sri Lanka have enjoyed in a while across all formats. Mind you poor rankings forced them to play the World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe last year and as a result of finishing ninth in the World Cup they were knocked out of the Champions Trophy next year.
It was a special series win because the selectors had been forced to scratch the barrel after injuries to several fast bowlers. Losing Wanindu Hasaranga after the first ODI was a massive blow as well but then Jeffrey Vandersay filled his big shoes playing a pivotal role walking away with career best figures of six wickets.
At the age of 34, Vandersay may not have much left in him but what he has done is to keep Wanindu Hasaranga on his toes. Hasaranga has got into trouble in recent years and the fact that there’s nobody to challenge his place sometimes gets players off the track. Now he knows that he can not take his place for granted. He is no more indispensable.
Apart from Vandersay, the performance of several young players were a treat to watch indeed. Dunith Wellalage starred with both bat and ball. The improvement he has shown in both aspects of the game is quite impressive.
In the first game, Wellalage top scored with 67 not out to help the team recover after a shaky start and then claimed the big wicket of Rohit Sharma. In the third game, he ran through India’s famous top order with a five wicket haul with his victims including Rohit, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer, all fabulous players of spin.
In the batting department every batter from Avishka Fernando, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis to Kamindu Mendis contributed. Kamindu should go on to become a regular for Sri Lanka across all formats for he is such a utility player.
Charith Asalanka, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Janith Liyanage had poor outings and while Asalanka will go on to play the next series, both Liyanage and Sadeera will be under the spotlight.
The most exciting thing of them all was Sri Lanka’s fielding. This has been an area that had been neglected for so long, but a conscious effort has been put in in the last six months with Upul Chandana taking over the senior side. With innovative coaching methods and giving fielding its due respect, he has been able to raise fielding standards remarkably. Fielding is just a crucial factor in the game that can even help average teams to raise spectacularly.
The energy shown by the team was so exciting. They wanted this one badly. After the disappointing run in Kandy, the players knew the writing was on the wall and that they needed to address the issue. Gladly they did and gave the fans something to remember for a while.
