On Wednesday (August 8), Rohit Sharma-led India lost the third and final ODI against hosts Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, losing the three-match series 2-0. Having failed to win the opener of the series which eventually ended in a draw, India lost the second and penultimate match by 32 runs before being bowled out by Charith Asalanka-led Islanders by 110 runs in the final match while chasing 249.

Following the defeat, many questions were asked about Rohit & Co., who lost the ODI bilateral series against Sri Lanka for the first time since 1997. The 2023 ODI World Cup runners-up were convincingly defeated in the final match, with their bowlers once again conceding slightly overs and the Indian batsmen coming up short against the SL spinners.

At the post-match presentation ceremony, Rohit was asked if the No. 1 ranked Indian team was complacent against the seventh ranked Sri Lankans. To this, the Hitman said, “It’s a joke, when you play for India you never get complacent. When I am the captain there is no such chance. But you have to give credit to good cricket. Sri Lanka played better than us.”

“These things happen, losing streaks are not the end of the world, you can lose streaks every now and then but what matters is how you come back from that loss.”

Rohit praised SL for being on top of India in all three matches. The home team crushed India by relying on the spin web of Jeffrey Vandersay, Dunith Wellalage and captain Asalanka. The trio shared 21 wickets between them while Avishka Fernando top-scored for the Lankans in the series with 137. Wellalage finished as the Player of the Series for his blitz all-rounder and also made 108 (third most).

For India, only Rohit survived with the bat; he top-scored with 157, while all the other batsmen (barring some resistance from Axar Patel) were clueless. Among the bowlers, Washington Sundar made a mark with 5 wickets, while Kuldeep Yadav returned with 4 scalps.