Defending champs India suffer 7-wicket defeat after Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews goes hammer and tongs
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews slams one en route his 45-ball 52 against India during their ICC Champions Trophy match at The Oval in London yesterday. Pic/AFP
India were supposed to turn up at the Oval and thrash Sri Lanka. But they were in for a surprise. The less experienced southern neighbours upset the Indian apple cart much to the disappointment of a full house.
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The seven-wicket loss means India will have to beat South Africa in their last game here on Sunday if they hope to make it to semi-finals and attempt to defend their crown. In fact, it has made the last two Group B matches virtually quarter-finals between India and South Africa and Pakistan and Sri Lanka, with the winners advancing to the last four. It’s not often that India have lost a match when Shikhar Dhawan has got a century.
Poor Dhawan
It has happened just once earlier when his 126 went in vain against the Australian in Canberra last January. Of course, the batsmen are no way to be blamed as they had posted a total of 321 for six. But the much-hailed bowling attack of the four-pronged pace attack and spinner Ravindra Jadeja were just ineffective on
the day.
Yes, the pitch was benign and the conditions were not as testing as the threatened rain never made an appearance. But credit should go to the Lankan batsmen, especially Kusal Mendis and replacement player Danushka Gunathilaka who batted with composure to overhaul a challenging total.
India had their moments when Mendis and Gunathilaka were run out by brilliant throws by Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. But those were the only worthwhile efforts as Angelo Mathews with an unbeaten half-century, first with Kusal Perera and then after the latter retired hurt with Asela Gunaratne guided the team home in gathering gloom.
Solid start by India
After being put in, Dhawan and Rohit Sharma gave India a solid start. With an initial cloud cover, the two were watchful, but once they were confident that the ball was not doing much, they opened out.
Their 138-run stand was an ideal platform for the rest of the batsmen to express themselves. But after the departure of Rohit for a well-compiled 78, India received a big blow when skipper Virat Kohli was sent back by Nuwan Pradeep for a duck.
That was a big setback as India lost quite a bit of momentum, especially with Yuvraj also falling cheaply. Luckily Mahendra Singh Dhoni was in his element and gave ample support to Dhawan.
The two opened out in the end to ensure India crossed the 300-mark to put up a strong total. Kedar Jadhav played a cameo at the end to boost the total.
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