India's unbeaten run under head coach Gautam Gambhir came to an end with a 32-run defeat to Sri Lanka in the second ODI on August 4. Batting collapse proved to be India's downfall, while Sri Lanka's Jeffery Vandersay delivered a match-winning bowling performance. Sri Lanka, batting first after winning the toss, struggled to build a substantial score despite Avishka Fernando's early aggression and a late cameo from Kamindu Mendis. The hosts set a target of 241 runs, which seemed achievable for the Indian batting lineup. However, Vandersay's exceptional bowling spell, claiming six wickets for just 33 runs, turned the game in Sri Lanka's favor as India were bowled out for 208 runs.
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Rohit Sharma rues India's defeat against Sri Lanka
Meanwhile, India captain Rohit Sharma, whose quickfire 64 off 44 went in vain, was left disappointed with his team after the hapless loss against Sri Lanka. Barring Rohit and Axar Patel (44), none of the Indian batters could go past the 40-run mark. Shubman Gill did impress with his 35 off 44 but he too eventually fell to Jeffery Vandersay's sharp bowling. While pointing to India's batters, Rohit stated his own example and said that the reason why he could score 64 because he took a lot of risk. He also said that he doesn't want to compromise on his intent.
“When you lose a game, everything hurts. It's not just about those 10 overs. You have to play consistent cricket and we failed to do that today. Little disappointed but these things happen. You got to adapt what's in front of you. With left-right, we felt it'll be easier to rotate strike. Credit to Jeffrey, he got six wickets,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation.
“The reason I got 64 is because of the way I batted. When I am batting like that, there's a lot of risks taken. If you don't cross the line, you always feel disappointed. I don't want to compromise on my intent. We understand nature of this surface, it gets really tough in the middle overs. You have to try to get as many as possible in the powerplay. We weren't good enough. Don't want to look too much into how we played. But there'll be talks about our batting in the middle overs,” he added.
Rohit will expect India to make a comeback in the third ODI against Sri Lanka in order to save the series as the Island Nation is already leading the series 1-0 with the first match being tied.
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