India’s assistant coach Abhishek Nayar said that there was a necessity to return to the drawing board and find out the reason for two dismal batting performances in the ongoing ODI series in Sri Lanka. In the first ODI, India were doing well at 80 for 1 in the 15th over, in chase of Sri Lanka’s 230 for 8 before falling to 132 for 5 as well. The lower-order continued to fail as they ended up with a thrilling tie. In the second ODI, on Sunday, India fell from 116 for 1 to 133 for 5, before losing by 32 runs in the chase of Sri Lanka’s 240 for 9.
“We want to go back and understand, and rectify, why it happened twice in a row. The day before yesterday, we were able to stitch partnerships. But today we lost quite a few wickets in a bundle,” Nayar said, after the defeat which gave Sri Lanka an unassailable 1-0 lead in the three-match series as well.
However, Nayar stated the defeat was a ‘surprise’ as the 2023 World Cup finalists succumbed to spin as well. Jeffrey Vandersay, who replaced the injured Wanindu Hasaranga, dismantled Indian batters, claiming each of the first six wickets as well. Nayar also admitted in conditions that are so conducive to spin as well.
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“Was it a shock? I would say yes, there is a surprise. But you anticipate and understand that in these conditions the game can turn on its head because there is so much spin on offer. Even if you look at the last game, it was relatively easy to score against the new ball. As the ball got older, the conditions when batting second got slightly tougher. Sometimes in tough conditions, especially in the 50-over format, this happens,” he added.
“They bowled well – I think Vandersay bowled the ideal length in these conditions. In such conditions, when the ball is turning – and the way Vandersay bowled today, used his finger, and bowled stump to stump – you get these phases when there is assistance from the pitch. I feel today we should give more credit to Sri Lanka. The last two T20 games assisted spin. When we came here and practised as well, we kind of understood that there will be turn on offer, there will be help and assistance (for the spinners). It wasn’t a surprise and we had prepared for it,” Abhishek Nayar opined.
Once Vandersay dismissed Rohit Sharma in the 14th over and followed it up with Shubman Gill in the 18th, India changed their batting order a little. Shivam Dube came to bat at No.4 ahead of Shreyas Iyer. This was done to keep the left-right combination going through the middle, said Nayar.
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“We lost wickets in the middle phase, which means every middle order batter batted where he was supposed to. It was not as if the middle order batted towards the end. When you look at numbers, sometimes in your head it can play games, if you look at it as No 4 or No 5 or No 6… but if you look at the situation of the game, because we lost wickets, everyone batted in the middle-order,” he again shared.
“So I don’t really feel changes… It is perceived as a change but it’s more a left and right combination, keeping in mind the conditions, keeping in mind that they had an off spinner and a leg spinner. So the thought process was right. But sometimes when you don’t get the result, you kind of question it. But the thinktank and the thought process has been about having the left-right combination so that we can capitalise on the conditions,” Abhishek Nayar concluded.
