"Was it a shock? I would say yes," said India's assistant coach Abhishek Nayar as he tried to make sense of the unexpected defeat to Sri Lanka in Sunday's second ODI, blaming it on the spin-friendly conditions that have the potential to completely alter the course of a match.
India's fragility against spin was once again on display as leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay wreaked havoc with a six-wicket haul to hand the visitors a 32-run defeat in the second ODI match.
The hosts took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, with one game to go. The first ODI finished in a tie.
"...there is a surprise. But you anticipate and understand that in these conditions the game can turn on its head because there is so much spin on offer," Nayar said at the post-match press conference.
India were chasing 241 on a pitch that had plenty of assistance for the spinners, and they ended up at 208 all out in 42.2 overs. In the previous game as well, the Indian batters barring skipper Rohit Sharma had struggled.
"Even if you look at the last game, it was relatively easy to score against the new ball. As the ball got older, the conditions when batting second got slightly tougher. Sometimes in tough conditions, especially in the 50-over format, this happens," he added.
The assistant coach said the think-tank will reflect on what has gone wrong so far.
"We want to go back and understand, and rectify, why it happened twice in a row. The day before yesterday, we were able to stitch partnerships but today we lost quite a few wickets in a bundle."
India shuffled their middle order, promoting Shivam Dube (0) to the number four spot, while maintaining the right-left batting combination with Shreyas Iyer (7) and K L Rahul (0) at numbers six and seven, respectively.
"My belief is that in any sport, position only matters if you're playing in different areas of a game. We lost wickets in the middle phase, and that's where the middle order batters batted. It's not as if middle order batters batted towards the end.
"The thought process was right. When it doesn't work out, these questions are asked often. But I've always believed that if a middle order batter bats as a middle order batter, it is the right decision," Nayar said.
Nayar feels there is more pressure on the team batting second.
"When you are batting first, there is less pressure. When you are chasing, the pressure is more because you have to keep an eye on the run rate, wickets.
"Whenever you bat first, you often have partnerships. (Dunith) Wellalage batted really well, both in the last game and this game. They scored important runs in the lower order."
