After losing the T20 series, the Sri Lankan team started the ODI series with a loss in the first game. I wouldn't mind if they have lost after fighting but here they had no idea how to bat in an ODI game. They got all out for 178 runs and it never looked at anytime that they had any intent to make any partnerships. Sri Lanka lost their top 4 wickets at 23. At that time Avishka Fernando made 56 runs and Janith Liyanage made 36 runs. Once those players were out, no one was there who could take Sri Lanka out of trouble.
Sri Lanka's batting is a nightmare and needs to be improved instantly otherwise they will lose this series too. The next match is on Wednesday, still some days for the Sri Lanka team to focus on batting.
Yes, Sri Lanka disappointing performance in this tour so far didn't win a single match. in the first ODI, New Zealand had an outstanding performance, winning by nine wickets against Sri Lanka. New Zealand chase down the easy target 180 runs in a loss of single wicket. Nz Openior Will Young played an outclassed inning of 90 runs and remained not out. The man of the Match award goes to Matt Henry for his amazing bowling spell picked 4 important wickets by just giving 19 runs with an impressive economy rate under 2 runs per over. Sri lanka needs to improve his batting performance or makes some changes in playing XI if they want to win next matches in this series.
Among the Sri Lankan batsmen, except Avishka Fernando, no one has performed very well. If it is not possible to set a target of 200 runs in ODI cricket, then winning expectations cannot be expected in that match. Sri Lanka's performance in the first match of the ODI series was not as expected. Out of all the batsmen, 7 batsmen have returned for just single digit, and out of them, more than one top order batsman has returned for zero. If the number of such performers in the team is high, then nothing more can be expected in the match. If they cannot show any major changes in the next match, then Sri Lanka may also loss the second match.