Champions Trophy: Sri Lanka hand India a reality check

LONDON: Does India's conservative approach to building an ODI innings need a rethink? At least since the 2015 World Cup, the team's batting formula has been a throwback to the early days of the format: a sedate but strong start and a busy but cautious middle, all building to a crescendo of power hitting in the slog overs.
During this period, India have averaged only 48 in the first 10 overs but the approach has brought them tremendous success, partly because of the power hitting resources they have at the end, and partly because of the quality of the batsmen asked to play sheet anchor.
On Thursday too, this template was followed to perfection. India scored only 48 in the first 10 overs and did not lose a wicket, eventually overcoming a duck from Virat Kohli to get to 321/6 after Sri Lanka smartly put them in to bat.

Shikhar Dhawan (125; 128 balls, 15x4, 1x6) put on his third successive century stand with Rohit Sharma, and MS Dhoni (63; 52b, 7x4, 2x6) along with the rest of the hitters lower down the order ensured India added an impressive 103 in the last 10 overs.
Sri Lanka, however, managed to chase the target down with some comfort, winning by seven wickets, with eight balls remaining, to put a dent in India's Champions Trophy campaign and ensuring that Sunday's game between India and South Africa is now of immense importance for Kohli's boys.
How did the Lankans manage to pull off this massive chase?
They scored only 44 in the first 10 overs and also lost a wicket in the process. The difference was the second Powerplay, overs 11-40. It is here that India failed to capitalize, scoring 170 for the loss of three wickets while the Lankans managed 203 and lost two.

Their heroes were Kapugedara's replacement Danushka Gunathilaka (76 off 72; 4x4, 2x6), Man-of-the-match Kusal Mendis (89 off 93; 11x4, 1x6), Kusal Perera and the ice-cool captain Angelo Mathews (52 not out off 45). So, in spite of the fact that the Lankans bowled too many full tosses, and India had a superior bowling attack on paper, India probably lost is because they did not raise the bar higher in the middle overs. India were also hurt by Ravindra Jadeja (6-0-52-0) having an off day.
It's not that the Indians aren't aware of the need to introduce some improvisation in their batting approach. Before the Pakistan game, skipper Kohli had said, "No total is safe these days. People are chasing down 350-360... it was unthinkable even a couple of years back. Some people, if they have a good day, can chase down anything."
It was a harsh lesson for India, who must have gone into the change room happy with the 321 they had put up.