Last Updated on 3 months by Charbel Coorey
In the aftermath of Sri Lanka’s 2-0 series win over India, Maheesh Theekshana said that the visitors’ struggles against spin comes down to the conditions they play in at home. The spinner believes that the batting-friendly grounds in India contributed to their downfall, with the middle order in particular all at sea against the spinners during the ODI series.
“It’s a confidence-booster. The team was disappointed after the T20s, and we had extra motivation and it’s a huge victory for us and I’m really proud I was part of the XI,” Theekshana said after the match.
“We knew they [India] are used to small grounds and good wickets in India. We knew we could get an advantage with some turn on the wicket, and we have good spinners. Really happy about the victory, and it’s a huge confidence-booster.”
Maheesh Theekshana among the wickets as India struggle
The three ODIs all took a similar pattern. Sri Lanka struck scores in the region of 230-250, before Rohit Sharma got India off to a flyer on each occasion. But, the Indian middle order had no answers.
In the first match, India lost their ten wickets for 155 runs after a 75-run opening stand. Their last seven wickets fell for exactly 100. The second match was worse, with India losing their ten wickets for 111 after a 97-run stand for the first wicket. In the third game, India fell from 53/1 in 7 overs to 138 all-out in 26.1 overs.
“We knew they [India] are used to small grounds and good wickets in India. We knew we could get an advantage with some turn on the wicket, and we have good spinners.”
Maheesh Theekshana
The collapses drew criticism from India fans as to the personnel and approach against spin. Rohit Sharma denied any complacency in the group after the 3-0 T20I series win, but said that India must look at how they play spin.
“I don’t think it’s a concern,” said Rohit of India’s first series defeat against Sri Lanka in 27 years as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. “But it’s something we need to look at seriously, into our individual game plans. We were definitely put under pressure throughout the series. We need to look into it, do something differently, need to talk about it and come back with different plans.”
Theekshana was among the wicket-takers in the final game. In total, Sri Lanka took 27 wickets via spin – the most ever in a three-match men’s ODI series. The previous record was 21 by Bangladesh against Pakistan in 2011 and Papua New Guinea against Hong Kong in 2016.
22-year-old Dunith Wellalge finished as player of the series with 108 runs and seven wickets.