International Cricket: India vs. Sri Lanka 7/20/21 ODI Cricket Prediction

India’s tour of Sri Lanka resumes tomorrow with their penultimate match in the 3-match on Tuesday July 20th, 2021 at 5:30AM EST. Colombo (RPS) will be the host venue once again.

An all-around performance by India ensured them of victory on Sunday albeit with a few of their core players missing from the side. Sri Lanka were made to work throughout the match which they ultimately lost due to the sheer tenacity of the Indians. Sri Lanka are currently second from the bottom in the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League while India aresitting in the fifth position, so opportunities are there for the taking if they wish to accumulate some much needed points.

In the first ODI encounter, Sri Lanka batted first and scored 262 for 9 in their 50 overs. Not one player was able to score 50 although many of them had starts, they were unable to carry on. Number 8 batsman Chamika Karunaratne top scored with 43, captain Dasun Shanaka chipped in with 39 and also Charith Asalanka who made 38. The Sri Lankan bowlers did not post any threat to the Indian side, De Silva took 2 wickets while Lakshan Sandakan took 1, those 3 wickets came far and few between with no constant effort to halt their opponent’s progress. Sri Lanka must bowl a lot better in partnerships, hit the right lines and lengths up front and in the middle overs if they are to cause any problems against India, the question will be if they are capable of doing that.

India are being compared to England as it relates to the depth of their players, why would you disagree? Their ability to rest players and still provide a strong unit is impeccable which is a testament to their coaching and youth programs. 263 fifteen years ago would be a tough score to chase but in just 36.4 overs that score was demolished on the back of a well poised 86 not out from captain Shikhar Dhawan, 43 from his opening partner Prithvi Shaw and 59 from debutant and birthday boy Ishan Kishan along with Manish Pandey’s 26 and another debutant in Suryakumar Yadav who was unbeaten on 31. Earlier when they bowled, India hit the right areas, every bowler was economical going at 7.00 and under, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Deepak Chahar all took 2 wickets a piece which was pivotal in India’s success. Will they be able to continue in this vein or will they get ahead of themselves? We will find out tomorrow.

Two teams with strong batting acumen but only one has shown so far that they have the bowling touch. Sri Lanka will not be going down without a fight and will believe they can win tomorrow’s match but India will win the match just as comfortably as they won the first one but it will be an exciting match all the way through, and should go down to the wire. Give us India’s experience and strong batting lineup here.