IND in SL: India surprised about Sri Lanka’s strong showing: Nayar

India's Abhishek Nayar surprised by Sri Lanka's strong performance in ODI series, credits conditions and hosts, plans comeback.

India’s assistant coach Abhishek Nayar conceded the team was surprised by Sri Lanka’s strong showing in the One-Day International series so far following his side’s 32-run defeat in the second game on August 4. At the same time, he felt the conditions had played an outsized role in the outcomes.

“When you play a sport, you never take anything for granted,” said Nayar after the match. “Was it a shock? Yes, there was a surprise. But you anticipate and try to understand that the game can turn on its head because there is so much spin on offer.”

Commenting on the middle-order collapse in the first two matches against the spinners, Nayar said, “Scoring runs against the new ball is relatively easier, even if you see the previous game. As the ball gets older, especially batting second, it gets much tougher. (Jeffrey) Vandersay bowled the ideal length in these conditions. He used his googlies well and kept to a stump-to-stump line.”

“Sometimes in tough conditions, especially in a 50-over format, these things happen. Yes, you have to go back, rectify it and try to understand why it happened twice. The day before yesterday, at least we had some partnerships; today, we lost quite a few wickets in a bundle,” he added.

The 40-year-old also remarked that the conditions were on the expected lines and praised the hosts’ performance. “When we came and practised, we understood that there would be turn on offer. Sri Lanka has played well, their bowlers have bowled well, and they’ve scored important runs in the middle order. So credit to them for the way they have played. We have one game; we will try to come back hard.”

With the first match ending in a tie, India will look to win the final game on Wednesday and avoid a first bilateral series defeat to Sri Lanka in ODIs since 1997. The former India cricketer also defended the shuffling of the batting line-up by explaining that the team looked to have a left-right combination in the middle.

“Positions only matter if you play in different phases of the game. We lost wickets in the middle phase, which means (they) batted where they were supposed to. It was not as if the middle-order batted towards the end.” “They had an off-spinner and a leg-spinner, so the thought process was right. The (idea) is about having the left-right combination so that we can capitalise on the conditions,” Nayar explained.