ICC Champions Trophy 2017: India took it as a practice game and we got our revenge, says Niroshan Dickwella

What’s the story?

Sri Lanka’s current wicketkeeper, Niroshan Dickwella expressed his views on the famous victory over India in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 during the post-match press conference. He opined that Sri Lanka have got their revenge against India for taking them lightly.have got their revenge against India for taking them lightly.

India played Sri Lanka in their second game on June 8 in which the underdogs defeated the tournament favourites, India, by 7 wickets. This helped the island nation keep their semi-final hopes alive.

“I’ve heard that they (India) take this game as a practice game and ...I don’t know and this is the return. We are not annoyed (by India treating this as a practice game), but we don’t really care about these things, we don’t think about the social media.

“But it hurts some times for us because...both the teams play cricket at the same level and they think this is a practice game and we got our revenge,” said they wicketkeeper-batsman.

In case you didn’t know...

Sri Lanka took on India in what was a do-or-die game for them as they had already lost to South Africa in their first and desperately needed a win against India to stay alive in the tourney.

India, on the other hand, had won their first game against Pakistan and were looking to confirm their semi-final spot by defeating the Lankans. However, it was not meant to be as SL chased down the target of 322 runs with 7 wickets in hand.

The heart of the matter

Ahead of the encounter, not many gave Sri Lanka a chance at winning the game, however, the Lankans had other plans in mind. They proved everyone who felt this was a one-sided game wrong as they fought hard to beat India and continue battling for their semi-final spot.

Dickwella was mighty pleased with his team’s performance and said it is a big thing to beat a team like India while chasing a big total. He also added that hearing the Indians are taking the game against them as a practice match hurt the Lankans and they were determined to win at any cost.

What’s next?

With India losing to Sri Lanka on June 8 and South Africa losing to Pakistan on June 7, all the teams in Group B have a win and a loss each against their names. This opens the group wide because the next two games in Group B become potential quarter-finals and the winner of each will proceed to the semi-finals.

This also implies that one of the two tournament favourites – India or South Africa will be out of the Champions Trophy and one of the two underdogs – Sri Lanka or Pakistan will proceed to the knockout stages.

Author’s take

The India-Sri Lanka square-off was a game that could be termed as an “upset”. They outplayed the Indians and were completely worthy of the victory. The wicketkeeper was very emotional and all pumped-up about the win, and rightfully so.