Rohit Sharma and co glued to the laptop in Durham to watch the ODI
It is a rare occasion today as two Indian international teams (test & ODI) are playing simultaneously in two different countries. The Test contingent's practice match against County XI commenced today at Durham, while a young team led by Shikhar Dhawan is competing with Sri Lanka in the second ODI of the three-match series.
The BCCI recently shared a picture with fans in which we could see members of the Indian Test squad members while they were engrossed watching India's ODI against Sri Lanka on a laptop. Rohit Sharma, Axar Patel, Vihari, Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mayank and Rahane can be seen in the photo. The BCCI posted the following tweet and captioned it:
All glued watching the #SLvIND game.
The Indian team went into tea with a score of 188/4. Skipper Rohit Sharma(9) succumbed to a mistimed pull shot and was the first player to get dismissed on the day. His partner Mayank Agarwal, who is making a comeback due to an injury to Gill, got the start but could not convert it into a substantial score. After scoring 28(in 35 balls), Mayank was bowled by Lyndon James.
Cheteshwar Pujara also failed to get back into some form before the Test series. Jack Carson got him out stumped on 21. Hanuma Vihari(24 in 71 balls) played a stubborn inning but could not capitalize on the platform as he departed at the fag end of the second session.
Team management will hope that the remaining players bat well and get some runs under their belt before the Pataudi Trophy begins in August.
Heroes from the first ODI, Prithvi Shaw, and Ishan Kishan perish early in the chase during the second ODI
Earlier in the day, Sri Lankan batsmen put in a combined effort to give their team a decent first innings total of 275/9 in the second ODI. Indian fans were expecting an encore of the first match and anticipated blistering knocks from Ishan Kishan and Prithvi Shaw. But the young batsmen had an off day today and were bowled early into the second innings.
However, this will present a new challenge to Indian middle-order players. Players like Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya can make an impression in ODIs if they succeed in taking India home in the tricky chase.