NAGPUR: Tillakaratne Dilshan struck a
blistering 123 as Sri Lanka held their nerves in the tense dying moments to
snatch a three-wicket victory in a high scoring second One-Day International
against India to level the five-match series 1-1 on Friday.
Scorecard
I
Match in Pics
Chasing
India’s 301 for 7 built around a captain’s knock of 107 by Mahendra Singh Dhoni,
the visitors made up for their narrow defeat at Rajkot by overhauling the target
with five balls to spare in a pulsating floodlit contest.
The
explosive Dilshan notched up his second consecutive and fifth One-day hundred to
lay the platform for the run chase for Sri Lanka.
India did well to
recover from a rather sluggish start to post 301 mainly relying on Dhoni’s
fireworks in the end but a few fielding lapses in the very fag end in the Sri
Lankan innings tilted the scale in the visitors’ favour in a match which went
down the wire.
The capacity crowd at VCA Stadium in Jamtha were
treated to another run feast with both teams scoring over 300 runs but unlike
the Rajkot feast the bowlers did get some assistance from the track.
The Indians, whose fielding has left a lot to be desired in the
ongoing series against Sri Lanka, were patchy in their bowling and the early
dismissals of Virender Sehwag (4) and Gautam Gambhir (2) when they batted did
have a bearing in the final outcome.
The two sides travel to Cuttack
for the third One-dayer on December 21.
Pacer Zaheer Khan struck
thrice in quick succession after Ashish Nehra got the prized wicket of Dilshan
to raise visions of a second successive a second successive come-from-behind win
for the hosts before Angelo Mathews, who remained unbeaten on 37, guided the
visitors home.
Dilshan, who struck 12 fours and two sixes, and
fellow opener Upul Tharanga (37) gave the Lankan innings a flying start scoring
102 in 14 overs to ease the job for the latter order batsmen.
Dilshan fell in the 36th over, yorked by Ashish Nehra bowling his
second spell, and then Zaheer sent back Mahela Jayawardene (39), Thilina
Kandamby (27) and Chamara Kapugedara (2), the latter two in the space of three
balls.
But Mathews, who used a runner in the later part of his
crucial knock, kept his cool and gathered runs after having lost Kandamby in the
first over of the batting power play, taken after the 44th over when the
visitors were 262 for four, and Lanka coasted home at 302 for seven in 49.1
overs.
Earlier, Dhoni cracked his sixth hundred and strung together
a breezy century stand with Suresh Raina to lift his side to an imposing 301 for
seven after electing to bat first.
Dhoni, who faced 111 balls and
struck eight fours and two sixes, had the proverbial cat’s luck as he was let
off on four occasions by the butter-fingered Lanka fielders, thrice by his
counterpart Kumar Sangakkara before he reached 50.
The India captain
punished the Sri Lankans with his second successive hundred in ODIs at this
venue, following his match-winning 124 against Australia on October
28.
Dhoni, who fell to impressive debutant Suraj Randiv for 107 in
111 balls that included eight fours and two sixes, and Raina (68) stitched a
stand of 126 in only 119 balls for the fifth wicket to lift India to the
300-plus score after the hosts were struggling just past the halfway
stage.
Coming together when their side were 132 for four in the 27th
over, they helped their side with a run-a-ball partnership on a wicket that
offered a lot of turn to the slow bowlers and not a bowler’s graveyard as was
the case in the first ODI at Rajkot.
Dhoni was lucky to escape
getting out three times before he crossed 50 with Sangakkara being the culprit
on all three occasions.
Dhoni rode on these reprieves and surged his
way with lofted hits and upper cuts while Raina slammed 68 in only 55 balls with
three sixes and four fours.
The home team innings was built around
their partnership after the steadying half-century stand (62) between Sachin
Tendulkar (43) and Virat Kohli (54) followed by another 51-run partnership
between Kohli and the Indian captain for the fourth wicket.
The
partnership between Tendulkar, who hit only four fours in his 52-ball knock, and
Kohli resurrected the innings after India were left at a difficult 19 for two
following the cheap dismissals of in-form Sehwag (4) and Gambhir
(2).
Thanks to the big partnership between Dhoni and Raina, who
departed in the 47th over caught at mid-wicket, and a quick-fire 42 between the
former and Ravindra Jadeja (12 not out) in only 19 balls India reached a total
that looked good enough to win them the match.
The expected fireworks
from Indian openers, especially Sehwag who slammed a career-high 146 with 17
fours and six sixes in the first ODI at Rajkot, did not
happen.
Sehwag started with a bang, square driving left arm pacer
Chanaka Welegedara to the point fence but fell three balls later in trying to
repeat the shot. The extra bounce did in the Delhi dasher and the resultant edge
was caught by a leaping Sangakkara behind the stumps.
Tendulkar
started in a cautious manner and hit his first four in only the fourth over with
a typically wristy turn off his pads off Angelo Mathews.
India were
in some bother at 19 for two in the fifth over and were rallied by Tendulkar,
who played some stunning pulls and clips off his pads, and the young Virat Kohli
who put on a half century stand at just over run a ball.
Kohli played
some lovely flicks to fine leg and drives to the cover region but saw his senior
partner Tendulkar depart stumped by Sangakkara off Ajantha Mendis.
Kolhi reached his third half century in a quick 57 balls but fell
top debutant spinner Suraj Randiv.
Dhoni and Raina then went berserk
to helped India cross the 300-mark.
