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After thrashing Pakistan in Colombo on Monday, India faced Dasun Shanaka's resurgent Sri Lankan side at the same venue on September 12. The Men in Blue faced a sterner test as the Lankans punched above their weight.
Batting first, the Indians were bowled out for just 213 on a wicket that was definitely not the easiest to bat on. Young left-arm spinner, Dunith Wellalage was the chief destroyer with a five-wicket haul, including the likes of Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli.
Part-timer Charith Asalanka supported him well, returning with mesmerizing figures of 4/18. With the pitch playing tricks, it wasn't going to be an easy chase for Sri Lanka and that is exactly what happened.
Sri Lanka fell short of their target by 41 runs as they were bundled out for 172. Kuldeep Yadav, fresh from his five-wicket haul against Pakistan the previous day, picked up four wickets on this occasion. This victory would have given Rohit Sharma and company as much satisfaction as it was hard-earned. Fans and pundits heaped a lot of praise on India for coming out on the right side of the result.
Here, we look at the top five expert reactions following India's memorable win in Colombo.
#1 Shoaib Akhtar
Former Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar in a video posted on his Youtube Channel, lauded the Indian team for bowling their heart out in the second innings whilst defending a low total. He acknowledged the fact that the bowling unit stepped up on a day when the batters failed, something that makes a team successful.
Akhtar singled out the contributions of Ravindra Jadeja, who he reckons is a massive asset.
"India gave their heart out in the field. Just loved the way each bowler showed the fight, be it Kuldeep, Bumrah, Hardik, Siraj and even Jadeja. He contributes with bat, ball and also in the field," he said.
Akhtar also praised the Sri Lankans for putting up a terrific fight against heavyweights India. He was in awe of the 20-year-old Wellallage and insisted that Pakistan should take a leaf out of Sri Lanka's book. He was pointing towards Pakistan's meek surrender against India when they lost by 228 runs.
"Look at the fight India gave in the field by Bumrah and others. Look at the fight that young Wellalage gave, the 20-year-old kid with both bat and ball. We didn't see such fight from our players, but they aren't to be blamed either. When was the last time we played 25-30 ODIs in a year?" he mentioned.
#2 Gautam Gambhir
World Cup winner Gautam Gambhir, speaking to Star Sports, opined that India needed to play spin much better than they did at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
He said that India have struggled when the ball grips, citing the example of an ODI between India and Australia in which Adam Zampa troubled the Indians.
"This is becoming a pattern," Gambhir said. "You remember that match against Australia in Chennai when the ball was gripping a bit and India were chasing some 260-odd runs against spinners like Aston Agar and Adam Zampa. And we couldn't chase it. Whenever the ball grips, we struggle and we don't know whether we can take the game deep."
Gambhir pointed out technical mistakes that the Indian batters made against Wellalage. He believes that India should have played spin on the backfoot rather than coming forward, specifically mentioning Hardik Pandya's dismissal in the process.
In one of the segments, he also praised Rohit Sharma for getting to the landmark of 10,000 ODI runs but said that a lot of credit for that has to go to MS Dhoni who promoted Rohit to open the innings.
#3 Dinesh Karthik
Dinesh Karthik on Cricbuzz Live, mentioned that after a one-sided affair against Pakistan, the win against Sri Lanka would give Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid a lot of elation and delight.
In his opinion, the game served as an acid test for India heading into the World Cup where they could face more such challenges.
"India needs these kinds of acid tests. Yesterday, Pakistan's coach came out and said that it was a reality check for us as we have not been beaten in the last three months. India have been pushed today so they'll be very happy with how they went about things," Karthik said.
Karthik was in awe of the bowlers for taking the onus and defending a small total. He was particularly impressed by Kuldeep Yadav who yesterday, became the fastest spinner to pick 100 ODI wickets for India.
He also expressed some concern with regard to Axar Patel whose bowling was quite ineffective in conditions that were meant to assist his skills.
#4 Aakash Chopra
Fomer batter Aakash Chopra, like Akhtar, shared a video on his YouTube channel to review India's performance against Sri Lanka. He wasn't too pleased with the way the batters went about their business but lauded the bowlers for orchestrating a comprehensive win nevertheless.
While KL Rahul made only 39 runs, Chopra was quite impressed with his technique and gameplan on what was a challenging surface. He added that Rahul's skills were the reason behind Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid's unwavering faith in him.
He also pointed out the fact that Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli have struggled against left-arm spin in recent times. On Ishan Kishan, Chopra felt that the southpaw needed to work on his high dot-ball percentage which seems like a genuine issue.
"Irfan Pathan was also talking about it on commentary that he is unable to take that many singles. He was playing too many dot balls and this was when you got to bat in the first 20 overs, although the pitch was slightly slow," Chopra mentioned.
Chopra was amazed by Dunith Wellalage who he felt reminded India of Ajantha Mendis, another spinner who troubled the country on several occasions.
#5 Parthiv Patel
Former Indian opener, Parthiv Patel, while speaking to Cricbuzz felt that the sensational bowling performance of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj in the first 10 overs was the most important factor behind India's 41-run victory.
According to Parthiv, the three strikes that the duo managed, gave the spinners a terrific platform to work with.
"It's crucial to pick up wickets early on, especially when you're defending a small total because the pressure keeps increasing. That's why I feel that the first 10 overs bowled by Bumrah and Siraj was the most important phase," Patel said.
Like many others, he too was delighted by Kuldeep's phenomenal resurgence after struggling for a while. Kuldeep made slight changes to his bowling action and technique, something which has impressed Parthiv.
He reckoned that while it seems like a minor adjustment to the average person, changing one's bowling action is a tough and challenging process.
