India vs Sri Lanka 2017, 1st ODI: Five things that went wrong for the hosts

#4 No support for MS Dhoni

Dhoni waged a lone battle

Mahendra Singh Dhoni came out to bat when India were struggling at 16/4 and Suranga Lakmal was consistently pitching the ball in the good length area. Riding on his experience of 300-plus ODIs, Dhoni was able to disrupt the Sri Lankan pacer's rhythm and explored the opportunities of scoring on the backfoot.

Dhoni held the fort for India at one end and needed some assistance from the other to bring the hosts' derailed innings back on the track but he ended up fighting a lone battle.

Kuldeep Yadav (19) showed some resistance before perishing but no other batsman came out to help Dhoni's cause as India were eventually bowled out for 112 in 38.2 overs.

With chinks in India's batting armour exposed, we can just hope that today's loss serves as an eye-opener and they re-group to take stock of their resources before the second ODI in Mohali on Thursday.