IND vs SL 2021: "University team vs School team" - Ramiz Raja describes 1st ODI of India vs Sri Lanka series
The Men in Blue tamed the Islanders in the first ODI of the India vs Sri Lanka series last Sunday in Colombo. Playing under Shikhar Dhawan's leadership, a second-string Indian team defeated the home team by seven wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League series.
Former Pakistani cricketer Ramiz Raja recently offered his views on the first ODI of the India vs Sri Lanka series. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Raja compared the lopsided India vs Sri Lanka match to a game between a university team and a school team.
"India vs Sri Lanka seemed like a University team vs School team match. Such was the difference between the skills, execution, talent and the ability to understand the game. This is a very challenging situation for Sri Lankan cricket because they were playing at home. They prepared a flat pitch for the series opener against India and still ended with an average score," Ramiz Raja said.
Ramiz Raja highlighted that the India vs Sri Lanka series opener could have been a low-scoring game had the lower order batsmen of the home team not contributed the way they did.
It looked like the home team had no idea of tackling spin in the first ODI of the India vs Sri Lanka series: Ramiz Raja
Ramiz Raja also criticized the way the Sri Lankan batsmen played against the Indian spinners. Raja was disappointed to see the Sri Lankan team tackle the spin like that because in his view, Sri Lanka has always been known for producing batsmen who played spin bowling well.
"The way Sri Lanka played against spin, it looked like they had no idea how to tackle spin. Historically, Sri Lankan batsmen have dominated the spinners. However, the current lot just does not seem to be on that level yet," Ramiz Raja concluded.