While everyone was expecting fireworks from India’s top-order after the Men in Blue were sent in to bat first in the ongoing series-opener in Dharamsala, it took Sri Lanka just a few overs to prove the majority wrong. The Islanders quickly ended any expectations of seeing India steamrolling Sri Lanka on a lively track, and the hosts ended up making a dubious record.
India were 11 for three at the end of the tenth over and have now become the team with the lowest score in the mandatory powerplay.
Sent in to bat first, India were off to a dismal start as Angelo Mathews trapped Shikhar Dhawan lbw in the very first over even before the hosts could open their wicket.
And before India could recover from that setback, they received another huge setback when Suranga Lakmal made Rohit Sharma edge one behind the wicket in the fifth over as India found themselves reeling at 2-2. The Indian batsmen were struggling to such an extent that the four of the first five overs were maiden.
Debutant Shreyas Iyer and Dinesh Karthik then steadied the rot for a while, but runs were hard to come by. In fact, the Sri Lankan bowlers were so disciplined that Dinesh Karthik failed to open his account even after facing 17 balls before becoming Lakmal’s second victim. In doing so, Karthik also became the owner of a dubious record as he became the India batsman to have faced most balls before getting dismissed for a duck. The record was previously held by E Solkar who was dismissed for a 17-ball duck against England in 1974. Next in the list are WV Raman and Sourav Ganguly.
Credits: BCCIAnd by the time, the tenth over of the innings ended, India became the team with the lowest score in the first powerplay. India’s previous lowest total in the first ten overs was 16 which they scored against New Zealand in 2003.