Former cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin criticized Team India's careless and unimpressive performance on Day 5 of the second Test match against Sri Lanka at the SSC Ground in Colombo. After enforcing the follow-on on the last day, the Shubman Gill-led team needed four wickets but ultimately had to settle for a draw.
Sri Lanka had only a 16-run advantage at the start of the day, but they rallied to extend the lead to 116 by not losing a single wicket in the first session. India was held at bay by Sonal Dinusha and Keshara Nuwantha, who combined for 112 runs off 242 deliveries for the seventh wicket.
Shortly after the lunch break, Manav Suthar broke the stand, and Lahiru Kumara put up another fight for India. The tail-ender prolonged India's annoyance by playing 90 deliveries for his 12 runs. On Day 5, the visitors managed just three wickets as Sri Lanka batted for 154 overs before the game was declared a draw.
Sonal Dinusha followed his first innings' 103 with a 133* in the second innings and was adjudged Player of the Match.
Ashwin questioned the decision to enforce the follow-on and said that Team India was complacent and waiting for the wickets to fall instead of being proactive on the field.
"I know, I understand; there was a threat from the weather a bit. But somewhere I get this feeling that the mentality was like, 'Chalo game khatam karo hum nikal jayenge' (Let's get this game over quick; they will be out, and then we will go). Enforcing follow-on is a little bit out of trend. Once you bowl 25 overs, your effectiveness will not be that much; a bowler is not a machine, even they get tired," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
"I had a feeling that they took it slightly easier, because they had bowled almost 90 overs in the first innings as well. So, that is not an ordinary spell. If you had bowled them out for 50-60 overs, then I can understand, but that was not the case. So, I feel that India took it lightly. So, enforcing the follow-on, I don't think it was the right approach," he added.
Team India eventually had to remain on the field for 243.4 overs in hot and humid weather due to Sri Lanka's resilience. Players suffered as a result; Mohammed Siraj's speed significantly decreased as the game went on, while Ravindra Jadeja had to leave the field because of a heel injury.
Ashwin pointed out that batting for even a single session and not imposing the follow-on would have made a difference since the rejuvenated spinners would have had a chance against weary Sri Lankan hitters.
"I accept that when there is a threat of rain, you have to make such a decision, but I have a feeling that a conversation might have happened and you could see from the body language that they thought Sri Lanka would be bowled out. Even batting for one or one and a half sessions with a good run rate, bringing them back into the field could have made a difference," Ashwin added.
Though India won the Test series 1-0, they missed out on moving to the fourth spot in the WTC 2027 standings due to the draw in the second Test. Now India will have to win all their remaining Tests against New Zealand and Australia to have a chance to qualify for the WTC final.
