Exciting finish see India level series 1 -1

Chris DHAMBARAGE reporting from Dambulla

India came back strongly following their debacle two days ago to pull off an exciting three wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the second one day international worked off at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium yesterday.

After restricting the home side for a modest 142 from 38.3 overs the Indians squeezed through with ten overs to spare scoring 143 for 7 and level the five match series one all.

India of course went through some real anxious moments during their run chase and almost made a mess of the situation while losing half of the side for just 75 runs at the end of the 20th over. Even then this was a great fight back from the Sri Lankans who made a fine effort to turn the game in their favour.

The Lankans certainly felt the absence of their premier fast bowler Chaminda Vaas who was rested following a hamstring injury. However Nuwan Kulasekera and Thilina Thushara provided some hope by capturing two wickets each during their opening spells. The pair had earlier pulled the side out of trouble with the bat and they had again got their act together well to put the Indians on the defensive from the start. However skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Badrinath Subramaniam steadied the innings with a sixth wicket stand of 60 runs from 96 deliveries.

Dohni hit a stubborn 39 from 54 balls with three boundaries but Badrinath making his one day international debut held his nerves under pressure to add the finishing touches with an unbeaten 27 from 57 deliveries with just a solitary boundary.

This was after Zaheer Khan had produced a sensational spell of bowling to dismiss Sri Lanka for 142 having being put into bat first. Khan who was one of the unsung performers in the test series was able to extract a great amount of movement and picked up four top wickets during a hostile opening spell.

As a result Sri Lanka slumped to 48 for 6 at the end of the 20 overs. Zaheer Khan received a fare amount of movement off the pitch and his wicket to wicket line really forced the batsmen to play at the new ball.

He had success in his very first over when he produced an inswinger to remove left hander Kumar Sangakkara. Skipper Mahela Jayawardena who has an excellent record against the Indians at Dambulla then made his exit in the sixth over when he edged a delivery which angled across him to Yuvraj Singh fielding at first slip.

Chamara Kapugedera who played an important role in their eight wicket win on Monday departed two balls later when he prodded forward to a delivery he defended and edged it to the wicket keeper to give Zaheer Khan his third victim of the match. Tillekeratine Dilshan joined Sanath Jayasuriya with Sri Lanka reeling at 11 for 4 and the pair needed to produce a repeat performance of the Asia Cup final where they added 131 runs after they had collapsed to 66 for 4 on that occasion.

However Zaheer Khan made certain that they would not repeat their effort by trapping Jayasuriya with another delivery that cut into the left hander. Tillekeratne Dilshan then decided to counter attack but did not succeed with his execution and was snapped up by the debutant Subramanaim Badrinath who produced a superb diving low catch while running from deep mid wicket. Nuwan Kulasekera and Thilina Thushara avoided further humiliation of being dismissed for under 100 runs while adding 74 runs for the seventh wicket from 95 deliveries.

Thushara made his highest score in one day internationals with the help of seven boundaries while Kulasekera’s contribution was a valuable 25 from 62 balls inclusive of two fours.

DAMBULLA, Wednesday.

SRI LANKA
S. Jayasuriya lbw b Zaheer		13
K. Sangakkara b Zaheer 		 	 2
M. Jayawardene c Yuvraj b Zaheer 	 2
C. Kapugedera c Dhoni b Zaheer		 0
C. Silva c Kohli b Kumar		 0
T. Dilshan c Badrinath b Pathan		16
N. Kulasekara c Badrinath b Kumar	25
T. Thushara c Kohli b Kumar		44
A. Mendis c and b Harbhajan		 0
D. Fernando c Kohli b Harbhajan		12
M. Muralitharan not out 		11
Extras (lb6, w11)			17
Total 					142

Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Sangakkara), 2-10 (Jayawardene), 
3-10 (Kapugedera), 4-11 (Silva), 5-33 (Jayasuriya), 
6-44 (Dilshan), 7-118 (Thushara), 8-118 (Kulasekara), 
9-122 (Mendis), 10-142 (Fernando).

Bowling: Kumar 10-2-34-3, 
	 Zaheer 9.5-3-21-4, 
	 Patel 6-1-24-0, 
	 Pathan 5-0-21-1 (w3), 
	 Harbhajan 5.4-0-26-2 (w7), 
	 Yuvraj 2-0-10-0 (w1).

INDIA
I. Pathan c Sangakkara b Kulasekara	 5
V. Kohli c Kapugedera b Thushara	37
S. Raina lbw b Kulasekara		 1
Y. Singh lbw b Mendis			20
MS Dhoni b Fernando			39
R. Sharma lbw b Thushara		 0
S. Badrinath not out 			27
H. Singh lbw b Mendis 			 1
Z. Khan not out 			 2
Extras 
(b3, lb4, nb2, w2)			11
Total 					143

Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Pathan), 2-16 (Raina), 
3-52 (Yuvraj), 4-75 (Kohli), 5-75 (Sharma), 
6-135 (Dhoni), 7-139 (Harbhajan).

Bowling: Kulasekara 9-2-26-2, 
	 Thushara 7-1-32-2 (w2), 
	 Mendis 10-1-22-2, 
	 Fernando 5-0-25-1 (nb2), 
	 Muralitharan 8.4-0-31-0.