Lions to lambs

Two consecutive losses in the ongoing Tri Series and it looks like the tigers have been tamed. After lifting the ICC Champions Trophy, the Indians moved to West Indies with immense confidence, but it seems like fate has something else written for them. Disaster struck in the first match, when India lost the match by one wicket, courtesy a damp wicket and the capability of the West Indian bowlers to exploit the moisture perfectly. As if the loss wasn't enough, inspirational skipper M.S.Dhoni was ruled out for the rest of the tournament due to an injury, which meant Virat Kohli would be captaining the Indian side for the first time, in their second game of the tournament, against Sri Lanka. It was a positive start for the skipper winning the toss, and considering the previous two low scoring games on the damp pitch, he put Sri Lanka into bat first. Sri Lanka started off cautiously, scoring only 16 in the first five overs, without the loss of any wicket. Kohli seemed to have made the right decision, but soon the Lankan batsmen shed caution. It seemed like the pitch was much drier than the previous two games, as only Yadav seemed to be extracting something from the pitch, but he too constantly strayed in length, allowing Tharanga to cut with ease. As Jayawardene cut loose, Tharanga chose to adopt the cautious method at the other end. Some good stroke play, along with loose bowling from the Indian bowlers as well as some shocking let offs in the field helped the Lankan batsmen amass a big total. Jayawardene was dropped on 25 by Vijay at Short Backward point, when he took a risk playing a reverse shot off Jadeja, the first risk that the Lankan batsmen took. The Lankans piled up the runs steadily, rotating the strike very well, with Jayawardene hitting the odd boundary.

 Jayawardene's chips over Extra Cover off both the spinners, Jadeja and Ashwin, were more than delightful to watch, and he brought up his century, his first ODI century in two years and 50 innings. As Sri Lanka took the batting Powerplay in the 35th over, Tharanga opened up, carting both Ashwin and Ishant to boundaries. With the fall of Jayawardene's wicket for 107, Angelo Mathews walked, and Tharanga looked completely in control at the other end. From here on top gear mode was on as the Lankans took full advantage of the incompetent length bowling by the Indians, amassing 180 runs in the last 16 overs, as Tharanga went from 72 from 105 balls to the eventual 174 from 159 balls. As Tharanga brought up his highest ODI score, he was also involved in a double century stand with Jayawardene, the seventh time he is involved in a double century partnership, a record he now shares with Ricky Ponting. In his 134 run stand with Mathews, Tharanga was so dominant that Mathews scored only 44. As Yadav conceded 22 runs in the 49th over, which included a flat six over point, a wide which also ran away to the boundary and then two fours, Sri Lanka marched to 348 for the loss of only one wicket, the first instance of an innings in a 50 over game ending with only one wicket down.
 It was clear that India missed Dhoni on the field, as Kohli clearly felt the pressure of international captaincy, making blunders like playing Shami Ahmed instead of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. Kumar has constantly given the much needed early breakthrough, whereas Ahmed seemed completely ineffective. Also Ashwin was introduced only in the 20th, after Sri Lanka had comfortably scored 90 runs.
Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews followed up his good batting with some intelligent captaincy and economical bowling. He took one of the new balls and started off with a maiden. Rohit Sharma fell early, caught at short mdwicket. Mathews brought both the spinners on within the mandatory powerplay, giving the Indian batsmen no pace to work with at all. At the end of the mandatory powerplay India managed only 28 runs, and Dhawan and Kohli soon perished, the pressure getting to them, and Vijay followed soon.

What followed was the typical Indian batting slump we have seen over all these years, with only Raina, Vijay and Jadeja making decent contributions, as India managed only 187, managing to beat Tharanga's score in the match. This 161 runs loss also happens to be India's biggest defeat after putting a side in.
-SN