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Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria feels Indian captain Shikhar Dhawan should have opted to bowl first with such a long tail in the third T20I. After Krunal Pandya had tested positive for COVID-19, eight other players who were in close contact with him were also isolated.
This meant that India had just five specialist batsmen and a long tail. Danish Kaneria felt had India bolwed first, they would have had a great chance of restricting the hosts to a small total. Their batsmen would have then known how many runs were needed and would have played accordingly.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Danish Kaneria explained how the decision to bat first backfired on the Indian team.
"When you have Bhuvneshwar Kumar batting at No.6, why didn't you win the toss and opt to bowl first? The wicket at Premadasa helps spinners and you could have tried to bowl first and restrict Sri Lanka to under a hundred. When you have such a long bowling line-up, there is an advantage if you bowl first and restrict the opposition. It was poor captaincy from Dhawan," Danish Kaneria asserted.
Indian batsmen gifted wickets to Hasaranga: Danish Kaneria
Wanindu Hasaranga was the star of the show for Sri Lanka, as he picked up four wickets and conceded just nine runs in his four overs. Danish Kaneria believes the Indian batsmen allowed Hasaranga to dominate and dictate terms. They played him with less confident strokeplay and that led to their downfall.
"Hasaranga was brilliant, but the Indian batsmen played a lot of awkward shots. Hasaranga demolished the Indian batting. He proved why he is the No.2 ranked T20I bowler. But I think the batsmen gifted wickets to him. If they would have played him carefully and knocked him around for singles, if they would have scored 130-140 with the kind of bowlers they had, they could have been more competitive," Danish Kaneria signed off.
Hasaranga's brilliant performance helped Sri Lanka win their first bilateral series against India since 2008.
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