India’s middle-order batsmen are having a tough time as they have been failing from last two ODIs. In the 2nd and the 3rd ODI at Pallekele, Indian middle-order batsmen were deceived completely by Akila Dananjaya’s wrong’uns.

Despite the fact that both the matches resulted in India’s favor, but middle-order performance doesn’t forecast a better future. However, Indian skipper Virat Kohli reckons that small targets are always a bit tricky to chase and team management needs to be patient to see the new looking middle-order prosper.

During the post-match presentation, Virat said, “Small targets are always tricky. If it happens 2-3 times, it isn’t an issue. We’ve chased small targets convincingly before. Here it was the case of the wicket being a little challenging. A couple of those wickets, you wouldn’t get those wickets 8 out of 10 times.”

After losing first 4 wickets for 61, Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni steadied India’s sinking ship with an unbeaten 157-run stand for the 5th wicket. They helped India to cross over the line with their gritty knocks.

Indian skipper said that the middle-order is still young and they will learn with time and more exposure. He said, “Rohit was outstanding, MS was great as well. These things happen, the [young] guys will learn in the middle order, we have to be patient with them.”

Praising India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s performance in the series so far, Kohli said,  “Bumrah’s got 11 wickets in three games, he’s bowled really well, he’s among our top short-format bowlers at the moment. He hits the right areas, bowls at pace, and in the death overs he’s like a fish in water.”

Team India has taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in the ODI series and Kohli and co. will now be looking for another whitewashed over the already depleted hosts. The fourth ODI is scheduled to take place at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on August 31.