look news india
After a disappointing display by the batsmen in the first two ODIs, the Indian batsmen will have to take on the Sri Lankan spinners in the third and final ODI today to avoid a series defeat against Sri Lanka after 27 years.
This is Gautam Gambhir's first ODI series after becoming the head coach and he would not want to start with a defeat. 27 years ago in 1997, India lost to Sri Lanka in the ODI series. The Sri Lankan team led by Arjuna Ranatunga defeated Sachin Tendulkar's Indian team in all three ODIs. 11 ODI series have been played between India and Sri Lanka, out of which India managed to win all 11 series. India cannot win the current series as the first match was tied and after that there was a defeat by 32 runs in the second ODI. India can now finish the series against Sri Lanka on a draw. The Indian team has reached this situation due to the poor performance of the batsmen. The spinners are getting more help from the R Premadasa Stadium and apart from Rohit Sharma, no player of the Indian team has been able to play a big innings against the Sri Lankan spinners. Rohit played a brilliant innings of 64 runs in 44 balls in the second ODI. Star batsman Virat Kohli could score only 38 runs in two matches which is a bad sign for the Indian team.