Sri Lanka "back to square one"
Well, they say "form is temporary but class is permanent" and that has certainly been demonstrated in the 2nd ODI in Mohali. After being crushed for 112 in the first ODI of the series, India bounced back in tremendous fashion to compile a mammoth first innings total of 4/392.
But the man of the moment and the match was the stand in skipper Rohit "Hitman" Sharma who scored his third ODI double century to see India completely blow Sri Lanka's bowling attack out of the country. His 208 of 153 balls was well supported by Shreyas Iyer (88) who laid a wonderful foundation for India to essentially allow Sharma to go ballistic after reaching his century.
There is no doubt that Sharma will go down as one of the greats of ODI cricket. Once he is in form, few teams can contain his aggression and capacity to not only score hundreds but big hundreds. Hence, I cannot praise Sharma enough for the innings that he played and the rarity of scoring a double century in a limited overs match.
The previous game too demonstrated that a superpower team that India is at the moment, can have bad days. But mistakes only happen once and India certainly didn't let it happen again as they saw the likes of Nuwan Pradeep go for an embarrassing wicketless 106 runs from his 10 overs. Whilst it is fair that Sri Lanka did show some instances of fight, it was all too easy for the Indians again.
But it was good to see that Sri Lanka to some extent did show some fight. With Angelo Mathews compiling a magnificent century in vain as Sri Lanka shut up shop for the innings to finish at 8/251 to lose the match by a massive 141 run margin. Despite the bowling being ruthlessly dispatched to all parts of the ground, there was some hope in the batting department for Sri Lanka. There was little doubt that India was going to lose but Sri Lanka did not get bowled out and batted the 50 overs and to some extent did showcase some good batting in what was a bit of a thrashing.
But what an exciting finally we have for this series. With two completely contrasting games for both teams which way will the odds favour. With India with the previous game's momentum will most certainly be the favourites, but can Sri Lanka conjure up some magic for the 3rd ODI?
But the man of the moment and the match was the stand in skipper Rohit "Hitman" Sharma who scored his third ODI double century to see India completely blow Sri Lanka's bowling attack out of the country. His 208 of 153 balls was well supported by Shreyas Iyer (88) who laid a wonderful foundation for India to essentially allow Sharma to go ballistic after reaching his century.There is no doubt that Sharma will go down as one of the greats of ODI cricket. Once he is in form, few teams can contain his aggression and capacity to not only score hundreds but big hundreds. Hence, I cannot praise Sharma enough for the innings that he played and the rarity of scoring a double century in a limited overs match.
The previous game too demonstrated that a superpower team that India is at the moment, can have bad days. But mistakes only happen once and India certainly didn't let it happen again as they saw the likes of Nuwan Pradeep go for an embarrassing wicketless 106 runs from his 10 overs. Whilst it is fair that Sri Lanka did show some instances of fight, it was all too easy for the Indians again.
But it was good to see that Sri Lanka to some extent did show some fight. With Angelo Mathews compiling a magnificent century in vain as Sri Lanka shut up shop for the innings to finish at 8/251 to lose the match by a massive 141 run margin. Despite the bowling being ruthlessly dispatched to all parts of the ground, there was some hope in the batting department for Sri Lanka. There was little doubt that India was going to lose but Sri Lanka did not get bowled out and batted the 50 overs and to some extent did showcase some good batting in what was a bit of a thrashing.But what an exciting finally we have for this series. With two completely contrasting games for both teams which way will the odds favour. With India with the previous game's momentum will most certainly be the favourites, but can Sri Lanka conjure up some magic for the 3rd ODI?
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