The Indian cricket team suffered a major setback as they lost an ODI series against Sri Lanka after 27 years. After whitewashing the T20I series by 3-0, India had a dramatic start to the three-match ODI series as the first match ended in a tie. After that, hosts Sri Lanka, who were ravaged by injuries, defeated the full strength Indian team in the next two games and won their first ODI series against the Men in Blue since 1997.
India sent a strong team for the 50-over series against Sri Lanka as this was their only ODI series in 2024. Now, the Men in Blue are scheduled to play three ODIs next year ahead of the 2025 Champions Trophy. This series loss put up lot of questions to the management of the Indian cricket team and their strategies ahead of the Champion Trophy.
Three reasons why India lost ODI series against Sri Lanka
In this listicle, we will discuss the three major reasons, why India lost the ODI series against Sri Lanka
Middle-Order failure
One of the major reasons for India’s loss in the ODI series is the lack of performance by the middle-order batters. Skipper Rohit Sharma gave a firing start in all three matches with a strike rate of 141.44. However, the rest of the batters failed to continue the momentum and lost their wickets at low scores. Despite getting good starts, India failed to choose low targets in all three matches.
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Struggle to take wickets against tailenders
The Indian bowlers failed to take wickets of tailenders even after taking five to six wickets early. The Sri Lanka tailenders added 30 to 40 extra runs in the last few overs that became a major difference between both teams in all three matches.
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Failing to play big knocks
The Indian batters got good starts in all three matches but failed to play a big innings that turned out to be a major reason for their series loss. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma got flying starts in all three matches but failed to convert them into big knocks. Apart from him, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Axar Patel also got good starts in couple of matches but none of the batters could take the Indian team to the winning line.
