India lost the ODI series to Sri Lanka 3-0 in Colombo recently.
India had defeated Sri Lanka 3-0 in the T20I series to begin the tour on an auspicious note. This was the first time Suryakumar Yadav captained India on a full time basis, while it was also the first assignment for new India coach Gautam Gambhir.
There were similar hopes from the Indian ODI team, which saw the return of Rohit Sharma as captain and Virat Kohli in the squad. However, Sri Lanka, under new skipper Charith Asalanka and coach Sanath Jayasuriya, proved to be tough opponents.
The first ODI ended in a tie after Indian batting failed to overhaul the target of 231 runs in Colombo, to finish on 230, at par with Sri Lanka. However, India lost the second ODI by 32 runs chasing 240, and then Sri Lanka created history by defeating India in the third and final ODI by 110 runs while defending 248 runs.
This was the first time Sri Lanka had defeated India in an ODI series since 1997 and these were the only three ODIs India was to play in 2024.
Michael Vaughan decided to tease Wasim Jaffer during his Q&A session about India’s series loss and posted on X: “Hi Wasim .. What was the recent ODI series result in Sri Lanka? I have been away and missed it .. Hope all is well.”
To this, Wasim Jaffer decided to simplify his answer and told Vaughan that in Ashes terms, India won as many games against Sri Lanka in ODIs, as England has won in Ashes in Australia.
“I'll put it in Ashes terms for you Michael. Ind won as many games in that series as the Tests Eng have won in Aus in last 12 years,” Jaffer added.