India Surpasses Australia, Pakistan, and England in Record Tally, Now Second in ODI Ties

On the 2nd of August, what proved to be a nail-biter in the first ODI at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, India let victory slip out by the skin of its teeth against hosts Sri Lanka. In the chase of 231, India fell a run short and ended up with a dramatic tied match.

This match was India’s 10th tie in ODI history, taking them past Australia, Pakistan, and England to be the second team with most tied matches, behind only the West Indies, who have 11.

India‘s chase did start brightly but lost steam during the middle overs. Opener Rohit Sharma’s half-century put the team on a sound platform, but it was followed by an order collapse where they lost from 80/1 to 189/6.

KL Rahul and Axar Patel added some stability with the important 57-run stand before the lower order couldn’t quite get the team over the line. The result was sealed when Arshdeep Singh got out for a golden duck in the 48th over trying to hit a big shot.

Sri Lanka, batting first, did very badly at the beginning but still managed to post 230 runs on the board with the help of a fighting knock from Pathum Nissanka, who top-scored with 56.

But it was Dunith Wellalage’s unbeaten 67 which was outstanding as he steered the side past 200. In response to this, India’s innings has been punctuated by flashes of brilliance but little in terms of consistency to see off the target on a difficult pitch.

Reflecting on this game, captain Rohit Sharma of the Indian team said he was disappointed not to close out the win despite his team being in some good position at times. “The target was there. We didn’t make it consistent. Some moments in our batting were good but did not get that much of a push. The KL-Axar partnership gave us a comeback, but the final result was somewhat disappointing,” said Sharma at the post-match presentation. He also acknowledged the pitch conditions: “The pitch conditions remained unchanged throughout, not allowing us to bat freely and we had to grind it out. We should have managed to get that one run.”

Dunith Wellalage was adjudged Player of the Match for his all-round show as Sri Lanka’s hero of the day. His vital runs in the first innings and the two vital wickets he took in the second were good enough for Sri Lanka to have the tie in their kitty.