ICC Champions Trophy 2017: 5 things that went wrong for India against Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka scripted a famous win over India at the Oval

ICC Champions Trophy 2017 finally received a much-needed shake-up as a tight game at the Oval saw the biggest upset of the tournament so far. Sri Lanka posted a historic seven-wicket win over the defending champions India as they chased down a mammoth total of 322 with one over remaining.

Kusal Mendis was the star of the run chase as he scored a match-winning knock of 89 and the returning Angelo Matthews who scored a brilliant 52*.

In the first innings, Shikhar Dhawan scored his third century of this event as crucial knocks from Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni helped the Blues post 321. But with a loss tonight, India face a virtual quarterfinal against South Africa on June 11.

India committed a lot of errors today with both bat and ball as without further ado, let's delve into the five things that went wrong for India tonight:


#5 Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya's costly spells

Pandya conceded 52 runs in 7 overs whereas Jadeja did 51 in 6

The one thing that has made this Indian team a success in the limited overs cricket are their all-rounders who have chipped in with important wickets. Against Pakistan too, Jadeja bowled with vigour and discipline to take wickets at regular intervals. This was needed today as well when Sri Lanka were building their innings in the middle.

Virat Kohli brought on Pandya and Jadeja from both the ends but it just wasn't the day for both of them. Hardik Pandya was haywire with his line and length and was taken to the cleaners throughout his spell.

Jadeja was targeted by the match-winning duo of Gunathilaka and Mendis as soon as he arrived and went for a lot of boundaries. Pandya conceded 52 runs in 7 overs whereas Jadeja did 51 in 6 as the all-rounders failed to deliver in crunch time for the Men in Blue.

#4 Premier bowlers failing miserably

The Indian bowlers failed miserably tonight

Before the tournament began, it was speculated that India's bowling is looking superior to their batting unit which was partly proved right by the huge win over Pakistan. But tonight's loss suggested that there are many cracks to mend as the wicket taking bowlers not only failed to dismiss the batsman but were not able to defend a good enough score as well.

Umesh Yadav started well but faded as the game went on as he was targeted by Matthews and Gunaratne in his final spell. He bowled far too many short balls where it was evident that the Lankans were playing the short stuff with ease.

Same was the case with Bhuvneshwar as he failed to make use of his famous yorkers to trouble the batsmen. Jasprit Bumrah tried hard but failed to take a scalp in the end but he too was reactive in his first spell which led to him going wicketless. The worrying sign for India is that as out of the three wickets claimed, the bowlers had a hand in just one.

#3 Sloppy fielding continues

Why is Jadhav even in the squad?

India had a bad fielding day against Pakistan which was very uncharacteristic of them. Everyone was hoping that the unit will excel in the crunch game against Sri Lanka but that wasn't the case as the Indians struggled in the field today as well.

Along with some half chances that went down and a clear cut chance that was dropped by Pandya; they looked lethargic at times which meant that Lanka were rotating the strike with ease.

Though they had two run outs in the game, it doesn't make other mistakes in the field right. In a tight situation in the game, Kedar Jadhav let the ball slip beneath him and ended up giving four runs where only one was available. This opened the floodgates for Mathews and co. in the last 10 overs of the chase.

A few more run out chances were missed as the Indian team had an eerily bad time at the Oval tonight.

Also Read: ICC Champions Trophy 2017, Who said What: World reacts to Sri Lanka's win over India

#2 The dismissal of Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj never looked confident as he was dismissed by the rookie medium-pacer, Gunaratne

The southpaw looked in great touch against Pakistan and helped his side to great lengths in Birmingham. But that could not be repeated as he failed to make hay when his chance came today. He arrived at a crucial stage and to his fortune, he had time with him to settle and get used to the conditions.

But Yuvraj never looked confident as he was dismissed by the rookie medium-pacer, Gunaratne. A half volley was chopped on to his stumps by the left-hander. He was edgy in the field as well with the veteran letting a boundary slip through him at long off. All in all, a match to forget for Yuvraj Singh.

#1 Failure to end the first innings well

Dhoni took his time before launching himself

Yes India managed another 300+ total on the board and yes they had brilliant batting effort by three of their star batsmen and yes they scored 103 runs in the last 10 overs. But it was their inability to change gears in the last 10-13 overs which led them to post just 324 as at one stage, India were looking at a score of minimum 335+.

Pandya fluffed, Dhoni took some time from the 40th over to the 46th over as it looked as if the Indian batsmen were giving far too much respect to the Lankan bowlers. Ultimately, they scored 20 runs less as India missed a trick or two by looking content to score at run a ball.

Also Read: ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Qualification scenario for each team

Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download Cric Rocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more!

Quick Links

Edited by Staff Editor