India lost an ODI series to Sri Lanka for the first time since 1997 when they lost 2-0 recently in a three-match series in Colombo in August. The first ODI was tied, but Sri Lanka shocked India in the last two matches to pocket the series.
India had whitewashed the hosts in a three-match T20I series played in Pallekele last month under Suryakumar Yadav’s leadership.
India failed to chase down the 231-run goal in the series opener on August 2 at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, resulting in a draw. In the next two matches, Sri Lanka defeated India by 32 and 110 runs, respectively, to secure their first bilateral ODI series victory over India since 1997.
Despite the presence of batters such as Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, and Rishabh Pant, India struggled to deliver in this series. Captain Rohit Sharma scored the most runs for India in all three matches, but after his dismissal, India experienced a frightening middle-order collapse.
Former India cricketer Dinesh Karthik counted the positives for the Indian team despite the Sri Lanka ODI series loss. He was impressed by the Indian team management's decision to field a large number of all-rounders in the matches.
Shivam Dube, Akshar Patel, and Washington Sundar appeared in all three ODIs for India, and Riyan Parag had the opportunity to make his debut in the series finale on August 7. He also praised the way India captain Rohit Sharma batted at the top, making batting look easy in powerplay overs.
“The biggest positive is the fact that India played all-rounders and bravely attacked. So that is something I really like. No. 2 Riyan Parag, in his limited opportunities, is showing what he can do with the ball, which is again a small plus for us. Other than that, I think Rohit’s batting is itself. The way he starts in the powerplay. He is making batting look too easy in the series. Batted beautifully. These were the positives for me from this series,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
Riyan Parag made his India debut in the third ODI and impressed with figures of 3/54 in 9 overs. With the bat, Parag made 15 runs before shouldering arms to a Jeffry Vandersay googly and lost his stumps.
These were the last ODIs India played in 2024 as they now have a couple of Test series coming up against Bangladesh and New Zealand and a handful of T20Is.
