The first ODI series under Gautam Gambhir as head coach promised a lot, especially with seniors like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli making themselves available in the format for the first time since the 2023 World Cup. But things didn't pan out as expected for the visitors, who were handed a 2-0 drubbing, with all three games following a similar pattern: Sri Lanka bat first, make a middling score belonging to the 90s era, before their spinners ran through the Indian middle order.

Takeaways from the SL vs IND ODI series

Sri Lanka's extreme depth in spin

Sri Lanka employed seven spinners across the three ODIs, all spinning a web around India's batting. Wanindu Hasaranga, their star leggie, got injured after the first game, but it didn't deter the hosts. His replacement, the 34-year-old Jeffrey Vandersay put up his career-best performance in the second ODI. In the third, Dunith Wellalage took a five-for.

And in each of the three games, to keep the main character company, Sri Lanka always had multiple sidekicks in the form of captain Charith Asalanka, the ambidextrous Kamindu Mendis, Akila Dananjaya, and Maheesh Theekshana, who would keep the pressure on from the other end and not let India get away.

The series showed that in conditions like these, Sri Lanka's depth in their spin department is almost unmatchable and will keep them in good stead even during relatively bad phases.

India like the left-right combination under Gambhir

The one tactical ploy that shone through in Gambhir's first stint as India coach was his affinity for having a left-right combination at almost all times while batting.

In the first ODI, India sent the left-handed Washington Sundar at No.4 and held Shivam Dube back till No.8; in the second, Dube was promoted to No.4 and was out fourth ball for a duck, which led to the promotion of Axar Patel to No.5. KL Rahul had to bat No.7 for the first time in his ODI career in the process. While in the third game, Rishabh Pant batted at four, Axar batted at six, and Dube batted at eight, with two right-handers sandwiched between the three lefties.

Don't be surprised if you see a lot of more of such shuffling to ensure that left-right combos are maintained, particularly in limited overs, in the Gambhir era.

Sri Lanka defeated India in the third match, securing a memorable 2-0 ODI series win 👏

Scorecard: https://t.co/1XJGmM9Fty pic.twitter.com/sGq9YUnehC

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) August 7, 2024

Batting depth and part-time bowlers the way to go for India

India had an accomplished batter in their lineup until No.8 for the first two ODIs. After not getting the desired results due to two collapses, they further lengthened the batting order by introducing Riyan Parag in place of a frontline seamer. That meant Washington Sundar batted at nine, the kind of luxury that India have seldom had in limited overs cricket.

A factor that facilitated the extra batter in the XI was that batters were encouraged to send down a couple of overs of part-timers if possible. While Dube is considered an all-rounder in the India set up, the likes of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill also bowled in the first two games, while Riyan bowled nine overs in the only match he played. This trend was also visible in the T20Is, where several part-timers were employed with the ball.

Dunith Wellalage is a future international star

Wellalage was the third-highest run-scorer in the series with 108 runs at 54 and the second-highest wicket-taker with seven wickets at 15.28. His unbeaten 67 off 65 in the first ODI after coming in at 101-5 took Sri Lanka to a competitive total. He followed it up with a 35-ball 39 in the second game, before turning it on with the ball in the third, picking his second ODI five-for against India, including big wickets like that of Rohit, Kohli, Iyer, and Axar.

At 21 years of age, Wellalage has already shown that he can have match-defining impact with both bat and ball in familiar conditions. With time and experience, he has the potential to be the fulcrum around which Sri Lankan cricket revolves in the future.

'Intent' the keyword at the top for India, no matter what

India might have collapsed in all three games, but the collapses came after the powerplay. At the top, Rohit continued from where he left off at the 2023 World Cup, scoring two blazing fifties in the first two games and a 20-ball 35 in the third to end up with 157 runs in the series, the most by any batter, at a strike rate of 141. No other batter with more than 20 runs in the series had a strike rate greater than 105.

Rohit made his intentions clear not just with the bat, but also with his words, when after the second ODI he said, "The reason I got 65 runs is because of the way I batted. When I bat like that there is bound to be risk taking and I'm not afraid to do that. Whenever you get out, whether you score 100, 50 or zero you feel disappointed if you don't get across the line. But that won't change my intent."

While Gill was not able to get going, it's abundantly clear that India and Rohit will keep taking the ultra-aggressive route at the top in ODIs, no matter the conditions, opposition, or occasion.

Experiments and extremes mean India shouldn't worry

The series loss was India's first against Sri Lanka in the format in 27 years. That, along with the manner of losses might raise concerns about the direction in which the team is heading, particularly while batting against spin. But both the management and fans would do well to not look too deep into the results.

This was the first series under a new management for India, and in-game experiments were abundant, perhaps to expose players to different situations and inculcate a certain level of flexibility in the side, where they are ready to perform whatever role the team needs them to.

To add to that, the extreme conditions on offer where part-timers were turning the ball square, reduced the gap between the sides and Sri Lanka, being the hosts and knowing the conditions better, took advantage of it. Reflections and adjustments are required for India, but despite the relatively bad optics, panic isn't.

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