Kolkata. After thrashing the visitors by 67 runs in the first ODI, India will look to win the second ODI against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens here to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. In the first match played in Guwahati, where the 143-run partnership for the first wicket between Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill put India in a strong position, with the help of Virat Kohli’s 73rd international century, the team scored a huge score of 373 runs. Could.

India’s top three batsmen may have made big scores, but the lower order could not do much. The result was that India added only 70 runs in the last nine overs. Although both Shreyas Iyer (28) and KL Rahul (39) could not take advantage of good starts, Rahul’s poor form has been a matter of concern for India for some time. Rahul played nine ODIs for India in 2022, scoring just 251 runs at an average of 27.9. Also, his strike rate of 80.2 is low for a batsman playing the role of a finisher. Rahul, who has taken up the role of India’s wicketkeeper in the absence of Rishabh Pant, will need to score big in the second ODI.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will have to find some remedy for their flabby top-order batting before Thursday. Apart from the half-century innings of opener Pathum Nissanka (72), no batsman made a significant contribution. Finally, captain Dasun Shanaka came in and scored 108 off 88 balls, but by then the match was out of his team’s hands.

Sri Lanka also has some concerns related to bowling and fielding. While the bowlers gave Rohit and Gill a chance to open their hands by bowling loose in the initial overs, poor fielding also cost Sri Lanka many runs. Run machine Virat Kohli was caught twice on the bowling of Kasun Rajita for 51 and 82 respectively and he took full advantage of this and scored 113 runs. If Shanaka’s team wants to register a win at Eden Gardens and level the series 1-1, then it will have to avoid repeating these mistakes.

Eden Gardens has so far hosted 30 ODIs, although the last ODI at this ground was played between India and Australia in 2017. South Africa was to play an ODI here in 2020 but that match had to be canceled due to the Kovid epidemic. Now that cricket is returning to Kolkata after six years, the team winning the toss would like to score big while batting first. The team batting first has won 18 matches at Eden Gardens, while the team chasing has won only 11 times.

Rohit Sharma also has special memories attached to this ground as he scored his first double-century here in 2014 to take India to 404 against Sri Lanka. Rohit will be eager to repeat his feat against Sri Lanka this time as captain and help India win.