***Official*** India's Tour of Sri Lanka 2017

[weldone]

mini-collapse?

 

[honestbharani]

Called it.

 

[harsh.ag]

Not about form wrt Shikar imo. This is easy and he's fantastic when it's easy. Pitches are batting friendly and bowling is mediocre. Against good bowling and difficult pitches, he doesn't have the technique to perform. As yet.

 

[honestbharani]

Sandakan is bloody impressive. Sri Lanka have the tools for a very good and balanced bowling attack here. Just need to get everyone fit and to learn from their experiences. They are bowling good balls that batsmen, if they play casually, will get out to but for some reason or the other, they dont keep doing it. They go searching for the glory ball. But with Sandakan and the part time option of De Silva, and a pace attack of Kumara, Lakmal and Prasad whenever he gets back they should pose challenges to batsmen away from the SC too.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Sandakan definitely looks exciting. I don't think I've seen a player pick his wrong one consistently yet.. even Pujara at times got it wrong.

 

[weldone]

Nah Sandakan isn't as good as Kuldeep.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I like Simon Doull... one of the few commentators to have pointed out that the toss becomes a huge factor only on pitches that begin good and get worse , rather than on pitches that spin from ball one. Also don't think any other commentator has said it bluntly that this Indian lineup is mediocre at playing spin.

 

[honestbharani]

Virat has looked the best at playing Sandakan so far. He is picking him just fine too and is really committing to either the front or the back foot. Sometimes I feel his ability against spinners is criminally under rated.

 

[Starfighter]

Should SL be concerned at Dilruwan's lack of penetration this series? He's their most experienced bowler in this team yet he's not really done anything and Pushpakumara and Sandakan have gone distinctly better so far.

 

[Shri]

Another thing that shits me about the cricinfo redesign is the fact that we cannot view series stats for players from both sides.

 

[honestbharani]

If Dilruwan is picked as a #7 batsman who can bowl, why the **** was De Silva not retained? He is younger, got more potential and is an actual batsman to boot.

 

[mr_mister]

i agree. Was also out to a very dodgy dismissal last test when he was looking good

 

[TheJammyTurtle]

If Dilruwan is picked as a #7 batsman who can bowl, why the **** was De Silva not retained? He is younger, got more potential and is an actual batsman to boot.

Lanka selectors need a new career to destroy after Tharanga proved them wrong when they actually gave him a run of games in the side

 

[honestbharani]

I mean he bowled like 8 overs yesterday. Karunaratne bowled almost as much as him.

 

[Prince EWS]

I mean he bowled like 8 overs yesterday. Karunaratne bowled almost as much as him.

I'm guessing he'll bowl a lot more in the second innings.

 

[harsh.ag]

The dad from the Wild Stone ad is perfect.

 

[honestbharani]

There will be a day when India can play 3 seamers (Shami, Umesh/Bhuvi, Ishant) + Kuldeep and Hardik in an away tour match, maybe in Australia. So its good to see if these guys have something with the bat as otherwise, that lower order would suck.

 

[honestbharani]

Am I the only one who finds these defensive tactics strange from Sri Lanka? I understand them playing defensive as long as Kohli was there but the moment he was dismissed and India were not even at 300, I think, but they just spread the field and allowed singles all the time to both Saha and Ashwin. Sure, they dragged the run rate down but I dont think it is a problem in this game. The pitch is gonna get progressively worse to bat on and the longer India spend batting out there, even if they are not scoring many runs, the better it is for them. The lesser time left in the game, the lesser the importance of these runs that were not scored or scored slowly. SL just seem resigned to playing for a draw. AFAIC, anything less than 500 batting first would be a disappointment for India and SL should still back themselves to bat big at least once in this game. Just astounding to see them not even TRY to get a wicket.

 

[srbhkshk]

Pandya is brilliant against spinners and doesn't suck against pacers. If he improved his bowling he'd be a genuinely world class all rounder.

 

[Contra]

Jadeja, Ashwin, Pandya makes for a serious lower middle order.