Team India Level Series

Team India made a tournament turnaround as they fought hard against Sri Lanka to square the 5 match series at 1-1. It was a close 3 wicket win and the victory was not quite convincing.

Earlier India won the toss, put Sri Lanka in to bat and toyed with the Sri Lankan top order when they reduced the hosts to 11-4. Zaheer Khan played a raging bull uprooting Kumar Sangakkara in the very second over before taking out Mahela Jayawardene and Chamara Kapugedera in three balls. Sanath Jayasurya and Chamara Silva also departed without scoring much and Sri Lanka were tottering at 44 for 6.

Thilan Thushara and Nuwan Kulasekara steadied the Sri Lankan boat a bit as they added 74 runs between them before Praveen Kumar snared both the wickets. Harbhajan Singh cleaned out the tail enders and Sri Lanka were bowled out for just 142, four runs less than India’s total in the previous game.

Fireworks were expected from the Indian batsmen and everyone expected India to cruise to victory, much like Sri Lanka did in the first ODI. But the Sri Lankan bowlers gave a spirited fight back and put tremendous pressure on the Indian batsmen. A strange combination of Pathan and Virat Kohli sent for opening the innings didn’t help matters.

Pathan was out cheaply and Raina followed suit. Virat Kohli looked comfortable as he defended the deliveries well, even going to the extent of taking chances against the dangerous Mendis… but he was dismissed by Thushara for 37. Yuvraj Singh showed some fire but was out for just 20… Rohit Sharma also returned to the pavilion two balls later.

But fortunately for India, Captain Dhoni and Badrinath kept their cool and rotated strikes grabbing ones and twos regularly. India sniffed a win as there were just 8 runs to go when Fernando and Mendis scalped two more wickets. Though unconvincingly, India managed to grab the match and level the 5 match series at 1-1.

Zaheer Khan was deservedly awarded Man of the Match. The next ODI would be very interesting indeed… catch it live on Sunday, August 24th.