Sri Lanka in three wicket win

Shirajiv SIRIMANE in India

Sri Lanka came back strongly to win the second one day international by three wickets in a cliff hanger at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur yesterday under lights.

Mathews (37) and Mendis (2) did the near impossible to achieve this victory and square the series.

Both Dilshan and Tharanga continued their blistering batting display repeating their performance as seen in the first one dayer, massacring the Indian bowling and sending the stadium to silence.

The pair brought up the first fifty in 39 balls with Tharanga on 26 Dilshan on 25. After the first power play this was extended to 89 with Dilshan on 49 and Tharanga on 30.

Dilshan’s 50 followed with 9 boundaries and a six made in 31 balls. Sri Lanka los its first wicket at 100 in the 13th over when Tharanga tried to guide a turning ball of Harbhajan and only managed to guide it to Sehwag at slip. He faced 42 balls and made 37 with four boundaries.

Skipper Sangakkara who came in one drop continued with the aggression and they added 47 runs for the second wicket in even time. However this minor blemish ended when Dilshan tried to go for a run and changed his mind stranding Sangakkara for Raina to do the rest. He made 21.

Jayawardana joined Dilshan and the experienced pair added a run a ball 66 before the highest score for Sri Lanka Dilshan was yoked by a Nehra delivery for 123. While registering his sixth back to back ODI ton he made this score facing only 113 balls. His innings, a treat for the 42,000 crowd had 12 fours and two sixes.

Jayawardene soon joined him in the pavilion after edging a ball to Dhoni of Zaheer Kan after making 39 in 47 balls with a four.

With the seniors back Mathews and Kandamby had to score 64 runs in the last ten overs the carbon copy situation in the first One dayer. History was to repeat itself when Kandambys inexperience was showing as he tried to pull a short length delivery of Kohli and offered a sharp catch to Khan. He made 27 off 32 with just two boundaries.

Kapugedera lasted just two balls and he was bowled by Zaheer Khan for 2 to make Mathews to battle it out.

Pressure was to follow Randiv when he was needlessly run out with substitute runner for Mathews, Kapugedera.

However Mathews and Ajantha Mendis took the home side to a memorable victory. India helped by a superb century by skipper Mahindra Singh Dhoni put out a challenging 301 for 7 in the second One day international at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur yesterday under lights.

On a flat track, without much hint of the green, Dhoni decided to bat first, expecting to notch up a big score.

Lanka made three changes replacing veteran Sanath Jayasuriya with Ajantha Mendis and introducing Suranga Lakmal for injured Dilhara Fernando and off-spinner Suraj Randiv for Muttiah Muralitharan, Indian openers, Dhoni and Raina could not find the rhythm they had in the first ODI with Sehwag falling to a sharp caught behind to Sangakkara off Welegedara only the fourth ball of the match after stroking the first bal for a four.

Mathews then bowled a maiden in the second over to Tendulkar and followed up his good work with a direct hit in the fifth over to run out Gambhir for 2.

After the 15th over India were 72 with Tendulkar on 36 and Kohil on 29.

Tendulkar then trying to accelerate was neatly stumped by Sangakkara to a Mendis googly.

India reached their 100 in the 20th over and soon after Rindiv justified is selection by trapping Kohli for well complied 50 off 65 balls. Kohli put on 62 runs with skipper Dhoni who was 53 at the time.

Raina who joined skipper then increased the tempo of the match with boundaries and sixes beginning to flow passing the 200 mark in the 40th over with both Randiv and Mendis being taken to task.

The pair brought aggression to the Indian innings and added 126 runs in 119 balls for the fifth wicket before Raina was caught in the deep mid wicket by Randiv when he attempted to pull Mathews. His 68 made in 55 balls had four boundaries and three sixes.

Skipper Dhoni brought up his 100 in 106 balls which included 7 hits tot eh ropes and two overs. His majestically played innings was halted by Randiv just after he added one run when he had him caught at mid wicked when he charged down the wicket trying a huge hit.

Harbhajan who had to face the last ball was stumped when he went down the track to Randiv to give him a three wicket tally.

SCORECARD
		INDIA
V. Sehwag c Sangakkara b Welegedara 	 4
S. Tendulkar st Sangakkara b Mendis 	43
G. Gambhir run out 			 2
V. Kohlilbw b Randiv 			54
MS Dhoni c Dilshan b Randiv 		107
S. Raina c Randiv b Mathews 		68
R. Jadeja not out 			12
H. Singh st Sangakkara b Randiv 	 0
EXTRAS (lb7, w4) 			11
TOTAL (for seven wickets, 50 overs) 	301
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-4 (Sehwag), 2-19 (Gambhir), 3-81 (Tendulkar), 4-132 (Kohli), 
5-258 (Raina), 6-300 (Dhoni), 7-301 (Singh).
BOWLING: Welegedara 9-0-53-1 (w1), Mathews 10-1-60-1 (w2), Lakmal 8-0-57-0, 
Mendis 10-0-57-1 (w1), Randiv 10-0-51-3, Dilshan 3-0-16-0.

SRI LANKA
U. Tharanga c Sehwag b Singh		37
T. Dilshan b Nehra			123
K. Sangakkara run out			21
M. Jayawardene c Dhoni b Zaheer		39
T. Kandamby c Kohli b Zaheer		27
A. Mathews not out 			37
C. Kapugedera b Zaheer 			 2
S. Randiv run out 			 5
A. Mendis not out 			 2
EXTRAS (b1, lb5, w3)			 9
TOTAL (for seven wickets, 49.1 overs)	302
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-102 (Tharanga), 2-147 (Sangakkara), 3-213 (Dilshan), 
4-232 (Jayawardene), 5-264 (Kandamby), 6-267 (Kapugedera), 7-285 (Randiv).
BOWLING: Kumar 8-0-48-0 (w2), Zaheer 10-0-63-3 (w1), Nehra 10-0-74-1, 
Singh 10-0-58-1, Jadeja 9.1-0-42-0, Raina 2-0-11-0.
 Result: Sri Lanka win by three wickets