India skipper Rohit Sharma and Sri Lanka coach Nic Pothas differed on the impact of the no-ball that Jasprit Bumrah bowled at a crucial stage of the first ODI here on Sunday.
“I firmly believe that there were two massive moments in the game. The toss was one and the no ball to Upul Tharanga. If you lose another one we are suddenly 15 for three and that is hugely different situation,” said Pothas.
“We have looked at two situations where for me they sort of defined the day. I don’t think it was rocket science reading that pitch. It had to be said that the toss was massive in the game. Thisara Perera is my Man of the Match for calling it right,” he added.
On Suranga Lakmal’s bowling, Pothas said, “Suranga is a world class bowler. If you give conditions that suit him, it doesn’t matter to whom he bowls.
“He is always going to make life difficult. In his career so far he has bowled on flat, dry wickets. You give him some greenery he will be brilliant.”
Bumrah overstepped when he dismissed Tharanga, caught by Dinesh Kathik at gully, in the sixth over with the batsman on 11. Tharanga went on to make 49. “We lost the game with the bat and not with the ball. It will be unfair to single out one individual, especially a bowler. I wouldn’t say it cost us dearly, because there was not enough total on the board,” said Rohit. “We knew conditions were going to be tough. I don’t think we played any rash shots. They bowled in the right channel, kept us guessing all the time and batsmen were made to play all the time.”
“Credit should go to the Sri Lankan bowlers. They made full use of the conditions but as a batting unit, days like these will teach us a lot of things. We will not always get to play on flat conditions. It is an eye-opener, we will learn from it.”
On the out of form Ajinkya Rahane being dropped, Rohit added: “We have identified him as an opener and that’s the only reason he has to sit out.
“We understand the runs he scored in the past few series. We want to give (Manish) Pandey, (Kedar) Jadhav, (Shreyas) Iyer a fair amount of games before we start touring abroad. It’s important that they take the opportunity.”
