2nd ODI: Deepak Chahar unlikely hero in India’s win

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India defeated Sri Lanka by three wickets in a nail-biting second One-Day International to take a 2-0 lead in the three-match series on Sunday. 

India’s man of the moment was Deepak Chahar who delivered with both bat and ball.

Sri Lanka post 275

India’s struggled to strike with the new ball as the opening bowling attack lacked teeth.

Avishka Fernando Minod Bhanuka went after Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as they added 77 in just 13.2 overs.

Finally, it was Yuzvendra Chahal who drew first blood by snaring Bhanuka in the 14th over.

Chahal was on a hat-trick as he dismissed Bhanuka Rajapaksa in the next ball, caught behind off Ishan Kishan.

Avishka and Dhananjaya de Silva put on 47-run stand for the third wicket.

However Bhuvneshwar struck in his second spell, removing Avishka for 50 off 71 balls.

The best performance of the Lankan innings came from Charith Asalanka who top-scored with 66, studded with six boundaries, off just 68 balls.

Another last-minute blitz late cameo by Chamika Karunaratne helped Sri Lanka push their total to 275 for 9 in 50 overs.

He hit 5 boundaries for his 33-ball 44 not out.

Chahal took his third wicket by removing captain Dasun Shanaka for 16.

However, his fellow spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya were ineffective and allowed Asalanka to score freely in the middle overs.

Bhuvneshwar took 3 wickets including that of Asalanka and was supported ably by Chahar who bagged 2 wickets.

Poor start by India

India got off to a poor start as they lost opener Prithvi Shaw and one-down Ishan Kishan early, due to bad shot selection.

Shaw had looked in good touch with three delightful boundaries.

However, he threw it away by failing to pick a wrong one off Hasaranga and was bowled while going for a cut.

Kishan was a victim of over-confidence.

He tried to smash it through the off-side off pacer Kasun Rajitha, without any footwork and played it on to the stumps.

The score was 39 for two in four overs.

Next, skipper Shikhar Dhawan (29 off 38) who looked scratchy, was trapped leg before by Hasaranga.

Manish Pandey (37) was run out, thanks to a deflection from the bowler’s hand.

Hardik Pandya failed to rise to the occasion by hitting it straight to mid wicket.

India was facing certain defeat at 116 for five.

Suryakumar Yadav and Krunal Pandya put on 44 to give some hope to India but both departed leaving India at 193 for 7.

Sri Lanka could be forgiven foe celebrating early but Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar had other ideas.

They came up with an unbeaten 84-run stand for the 8th wicket to pull of a stunning win.

Chahar scored 69 off 82 balls and Bhuvi made 19 off 28 balls to seal a memorable 2-0 series win for India.

Incidentally, India haven’t lost an ODI on Sri Lanka soil since 2012.

This was also India’s 10th successive win over Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka in 10 ODIs.

Amazingly, it was India’s ninth consecutive series win over Sri Lanka.

The third ODI will be played on Friday.

India 277 for 7 (Chahar 69*, Suryakumar 53, Hasaranga 3-37) beat Sri Lanka 275 for 9 (Asalanka 65, Fernando 50, Chahal 3-50)