Three reasons why India suffered a series loss against Sri Lanka 

Despite fielding almost a full-strength lineup, India’s disappointing surrender in the ODI series against Sri Lanka has emerged as a massive shock. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and other limited-overs stars have failed to match the expectations, which has been apparent as India suffered a 2-0 series defeat in three match ODI series. After clinching the T20I series 3-0, the men in blue’s performance in 50-over cricket is a concerning sign. 

After a nail-biting tie in the opening match, India lost the remaining two games of the series, by the margin of 32 runs and 110 runs respectively. Although it may come as a complete surprise, India has been outplayed on all three fronts in the last two matches. The reasons behind India’s loss are multifarious, and here are three main reasons:

Inability to play spin on sluggish tracks 

India struggling against spin is something we haven’t seen often, as they got bamboozled by Sri Lanka’s spin attack. Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and others got outwardly exposed against slow bowlers and gave away their wickets without much resistance. The likes of Jeffrey Vandersay, and Dunith Wellalage ripped through India’s batting order, which must be an area of concern. Also, the batters continued playing expansive shots, heaving across the line instead of surviving through the challenging phase, which also played a part in their downfall.

A misfiring middle-order    

Rohit Sharma scored 157 runs in total across the three games, and after the flamboyant opener, the next highest run-getter for India is Axar Patel with 79 runs. Rohit went after SL bowlers right from ball one and got positive results, but every other frontline batter struggled to get amongst runs in the series. The middle order didn’t do much with bat in hand with Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube and KL Rahul scoring at an average of 12.67, 11.33 and 15.50 respectively. This gives the picture of India’s dismal batting display throughout the series. 

The Absence of Accountability 

Rohit Sharma has to be partly responsible for this. The India skipper was the only player who batted nonchalantly in the series but kept on throwing away his wickets in all of those matches. Despite a breezy start, Rohit failed to convert any of his fifties into a century. Rohit’s wicket exposed India’s brittle middle order and their struggles against spin. Even the likes of Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer batted without accountability, which is an utter disappointment. Washington Sundar and Axar Patel showed application and thus scored runs. Patel had a better average than Kl Rahul and Gill which highlights how the top-order batters failed to score amid adversaries. The top order also lacked composure and it was vivid when India lost two back-to-back wickets for no run and tied a match from a guaranteed winning state.