Sri Lanka head coach Chris Silverwood lamented the lack of discipline from his bowling unit in the first 10 overs that allowed India to get off to a good start in the first ODI in Guwahati on Tuesday, January 10. While Silverwood thinks Sri Lanka put the brakes on India’s star-studded batting unit, they couldn’t sustain it for long.
India looked largely untroubled throughout their innings as they posted 373, headlined by Virat Kohli’s 113 off 87 deliveries and half-centuries from Shubman Gill (70) and Rohit Sharma (83). Sri Lankan bowlers could not get a wicket in the first 15 overs as Rohit and Gill extended their partnership to 143 until the 20th over.
Speaking of the first ODI, the former England coach believes India gained momentum from the good start they had and were unstoppable as Sri Lanka weren’t consistent enough.
Silverwood was quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo: “Obviously, we didn’t get off to the best start. If I have to be brutally honest, our discipline in the first ten overs was lacking at times, and we allowed India to get off to a good start. This is a high-scoring ground. India knew that they had to get off to a good start and we allowed them to do that.
“They gained momentum from that and we had to push back all the time to try to put the brakes on. And I think we did that for a period of time. But when you have a class batting line-up as India have, then it’s difficult to stop them.”
The visitors also dropped Kohli twice while he was batting on 52 and 81 before the ace batter reached his hundred. His innings proved to be the catalyst behind India posting a formidable total.
Despite skipper Dasun Shanaka waging a lone fight for Sri Lanka, Silverwood insisted they are not overly dependent on the all-rounder, highlighting the sublime innings from Pathum Nissanka (72) and Dhananjaya de Silva (47).
However, Silverwood thinks Shanaka has put himself in serious contention for an IPL contract, saying: “I don’t think we rely only on Dasun. He is in a great vein of form at the moment, so obviously he is shining. If you look, we had Pathum also score runs today. I thought the partnership between him and Dhananjaya gave us some momentum when they were together.
“He has put himself in the marketplace now. I am sure the franchises will be looking at him. He is a great striker of the ball, so hopefully, he will get an opportunity.”
Shanaka finished unbeaten at 108, stitching together an unbroken 100-run stand with Kasun Rajitha to reduce the losing margin to 67. He entered the IPL 2023 auction at ₹50 lakh but went unsold.
