After the Indian batting collapsed like nine pins against the moving ball, captain Rohit Sharma called it an eye-opener for them and hoped his young team will learn to tackle such conditions better next time.
India were tottering at 29/7 with Sri Lankan seamer Suranga Lakmal (4-13) doing the damage before they reached 112 all out.
"We knew conditions were going to be tough. I don't think we played any rash shots, they bowled in the right channel, kept us guessing all the time and batsmen were made to play all the time.
"Credit should go to the Sri Lankan bowlers. They made full use of the conditions but as a team, as a batting unit, days like these will teach us a lot of things," Rohit said.
"We were trying to survive in those conditions because we knew that if initial phase gets over, the wicket would get better. But we lost wickets and we were also not scoring in that space which put us in even more trouble. It is an eye-opener, we will learn from it. It is a young batting group, the guys, including myself, will learn and play out of these situations well next time.
Jasprit Bumrah was found overstepping when he dismissed Upul Tharanga in the sixth over. Tharanga went on to make 49 to pave the way for victory for Sri Lanka. Rohit defended Bumrah.
"We lost the game with the bat and not with the ball, it will be unfair to single out one individual, especially a bowler. I wouldn't say it cost us dear because there was not enough total on the board," he said.
An out-of-form Ajinkya Rahane was dropped for the game and Rohit said: "We have identified him as an opening batsman and that's the only reason he has to sit out. We understand the runs he scored in the past few series. We want to give these guys Pandey, Jadhav, Iyer fair amount of game before we start touring abroad. It's important that they take the opportunity."
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