Indian bowler Mohammad Siraj is known to have his prime time against Sri Lanka but the India tour of Sri Lanka 2024 was not one of those matches where Siraj dominated Sri Lanka. Despite bowling well in unfavorable conditions, Siraj only managed to take 3 wickets in three games. Considering the overall performance of the Indian pace attack in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami, the aggressive approach might not have been very effective. 

In the same way Ashita Fernando, the Sri Lankan bowler also struggled against the Indian batters. Ashita showed aggression towards Virat Kohli but could not do much in the entire series. For the 27-year-old who had featured in only seven ODIs before the series, and managed to find a place so easily in the XI at the back of six other frontline pacers getting ruled out due to injury, there was probably a victory to show in the end.

Spinners were the start of the match

Despite the fast bowler’s performance, the spotlight of the series was stolen by their lesser-aggressive bowling partners – the spinners, who combined to bag 44 wickets across three games. The trial by spin in Colombo was won by Sri Lanka yet again on Wednesday – this time more emphatically – as they distanced themselves from India by 110 runs.

India’s batting struggle was prominent throughout the series and the batters especially lost against spinners. In the final match, they struggled with the beginning of the match from the powerplay to the end.  The India batters, except for Rohit Sharma, could not handle the spinners and lost to them one after another. The spin struggle, instead of being ironed out during the two-day rest, only accentuated with as many as eight batters getting dismissed either before, bowled, or stumped. The struggle to even put bat to ball resulted in 21 of the 27 dismissals that were effected against spin, screamed loud enough for the Indian captain to admit “We all know what the issues are, no point digging deep.”

Lack of adaptive nature and footwork

Rohit Sharma is the only player who stayed against the opponent across all three matches. He not only top-scored for India in all three games but also presented the only real threat on behalf of the visiting side. A big reason for that was his advantage of facing the spinners with the hard ball and field restrictions, which allowed him to play effectively on the up and take them apart in the Powerplay. As the ball got softer and started turning, the pitch slowed down and the field restrictions were lifted, the limitations of the Indian batters to play in such conditions were also exposed.

Poor series for India- Rohit Sharma admitted 

The recurring issue of the Indian batter’s inability to counter spin in the first two ODIs had prompted a batters’ meeting ahead of the game. Still, it didn’t seem productive as the issues repeated themselves in the final contest of the tour.

Rohit’s first ODI assignment following India’s run to the World Cup final last year has ended on a winless note, handing Sri Lanka their first series win in 27 years against India in the 50-over format. A series where they would’ve looked to find a few answers has ended with them being left with more questions instead. Even as India is unlikely to play limited-overs cricket in similar conditions any time shortly, with only three ODIs scheduled hereafter, there is still ample need to find a few fixes.