Who said what - top 3 reactions to Sri Lanka's historic series win over India ft. Kumar Sangakkara
Sri Lanka beat India by 110 runs in the third and final ODI of the bilateral series at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday, August 7. The hosts took the series 2-0 with this win, after the first game ended in a tie. This was the island nation's first bilateral series win over India in 27 years.
India had won the T20I series played before the ODIs by a 3-0 scoreline but were a distant second-best in the 50-over format, comfortably outplayed by the hosts' spinners.
A lot of reactions came in from experts after Sri Lanka's thumping win. This is a memorable series win for them given that they are in a phase of transition and have not been at their best of late.
In this listicle, we take a look at the top three reactions to Sri Lanka's historic series win:
#1 Sanath Jayasuriya - "It was a very long wait"
Sri Lanka's interim head coach Sanath Jayasuriya, who was the mastermind behind this series win, was delighted with his wards' showing and expressed his joy after the match.
The former dashing left-handed opener was a part of the Sri Lanka side in 1997 when they last beat India in a bilateral series, and in a twist of fate, ended up leading them on Wednesday to their first since as their head coach.
"It was a very long wait because that series I played in 1997 and got a lot of runs in that series. That was the last series we won against India. After 27 years, I am part of the team and I am very happy to be part (with these boys). They are a very nice bunch of players and are talented and the whole country would have seen what we can do," said Jayasuriya.
"The boys went through a very, very hard time. Even during the T20 series we played well but the result was not what was expected. The players realised what went wrong when we came back to Colombo and they started to play well," he continued.
"We have been working with players like Wellalage, Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Asalanka - all are very young players. Hasaranga got injured and Vandersay has been there for a long time but never got the opportunity and when we gave the opportunity, he grabbed it with both hands," he elaborated.
#2 Aakash Chopra - "The ruthlessness was missing"
Former India opener Aakash Chopra tore into the Indian side for their dismal performance against Sri Lanka in the ODI series. He felt that the ruthlessness to win was missing.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra elaborated that the Indian team were used to performing well on flat pitches but came up short whenever put into bat on spinning tracks.
"We weren't able to close out the innings with the ball. There seemed a sense of complacency that we would get the wickets anyway and if we don't get the wickets we will chase the runs anyway. The ruthlessness was missing,” Chopra said.
"I think we get the opposition out and play spin really well on flat wickets. Our bowlers also bowl better than theirs on such pitches. However, when the pitches begin to turn, our batting becomes ordinary and the gap in the quality of bowling is reduced. So this is a problem they need to address,” he added.
#3 Kumar Sangakkara - "A great series win after 27 years"
Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, one of the legends of the sport, took to microblogging platform X to applaud the effort of the Sri Lankan players and staff in this historic series win over India.
The elegant wicketkeeper-batter congratulated the side but said there was still a long way for the team to go while competing against big teams. However, he felt that this was a good start.
"A great series win after 27 years. Well played @OfficialSLC. it will take more hard work to keep improving but a great start. Well done the team and all involved (sic)," he wrote.