Indian captain Rohit Sharma has revealed why India chose to withdraw an appeal for a Dasun Shanaka run-out in the final over of the 1st ODI at Guwahati, which Sri Lanka lost by 67 runs.
Shanaka, batting on 98 in the final over, had gone too far out the crease at the non-striker's end and pacer Mohammad Shami whipped off the bails and appealed for a run-out. While this is within the rules of the game, Rohit Sharma later said he didn't feel it was the right way to get the wicket of the Sri Lankan skipper, who batted brilliantly in Sri Lanka's unsuccessful run chase.
Asked why he withdrew the appeal, Rohit said they "wanted to get him out the way we wanted to get him out".
"I had no idea Shami did that. Shanaka was batting on 98 and the way he was batting was brilliant. We cannot get him out like that, and we would have liked to get him out in our way. We have to give it to Shanaka, hats off to him", Sharma said after the match.
Shanaka went on to complete a much deserved century in the second last ball of the innings.
Though Rohit was happy with the win in the first of the three-ODIs, he said they could have bowled a little better
"I thought we could've bowled slightly better, but don't want to be too critical of it although the dew was not so much. We bowled well as a unit and if you want to win games like this, everyone has to come to the party," he said.
India posted 373 on the board having batted first, thanks to good outings from the top-order batsmen, spearheaded by Virat Kohli's 113. Dasun Shanaka played a fantastic knock of 108 not-out but with hardly any support from the rest of Sri Lanka's batsmen.
The India skipper, who has come back to the squad after missing the T20 series against Sri Lanka, said there are some areas of the game they need to look to improve.
"There are some areas we need to look at as a group and again it's a team sport,"
India and Sri Lanka will play the 2nd ODI on 12 January, at the Eden Gardens stadium.
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