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Sri Lanka beat India by 2 wickets in Asia Cup
Published on
Friday, 28 February 2014
10:04 pm
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Brief scores:
India: 264/9 in 50 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 94, Virat Kohli 48; Ajantha Mendis 4/60, Sachitra Senanayake 3/41)
Sri Lanka: 265/8 in 49.2 overs (Kumar Sangakkara 103, Kusal Perera 64; Ravindra Jadeja 3/30).
Sri Lanka
defeated India by two wickets to record their second win in the Asia Cup in
Fatullah on Friday.
Sent into bat, India posted 264/9 in the stipulated 50 overs,
and then saw Sri Lanka chase down the 265-run target with four balls to spare
at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium.
Earlier, Opener Shikhar Dhawan missed out on a century by six
runs as spinner Ajantha Mendis returned to haunt India by restricting them to
264 for nine against Sri Lanka.
Sent into bat, Dhawan (94) and captain Virat Kohli (48) led
India’s recovery in a 97-run second-wicket partnership, before Mendis, more
than three years after his mystery was decoded by the Indian batsmen, came back
to trouble them with figures of 4/60 at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium.
Mendis castled Kohli and Dhawan with his carrom ball while
offspinner Sachitra Senanayake scalped 3/41 as India’s new-look middle order
sorely missed Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Thanks to the duo’s exploits, India slipped after being
comfortably placed at 175 for two in the 36th over.
Ajinkya Rahane (22), Ambati Rayudu (18) and Dinesh Karthik (4)
looked good but could not covert their starts, while Stuart Binny did not
trouble the scorers after being out for a zero.
Having come into the limelight with his career-best 6/13 against
India in Karachi in 2008, Mendis got a reality check after the currently
out-of-favour Vireder Sehwag unleashed his fury on him the next year.
But that was then and on this day Mendis, who was included in
place of medium pacer Suranga Kamal, did not let the Lankans down.
The pitch behaved differently with the ball staying low right
from the very first over. It was the perfect condition to test the openers who
were in the middle of a prolonged lean patch.
Sharma, particularly, struggled against the odd ball as Sri
Lanka, who were playing with three specialist spinners, brought on offie
Senanayake in the sixth over.
Lanka seemed in perfect control, conceding only 37 runs in the
first power play which also yielded Sharma’s wicket.
After all his struggle, Sharma’a anxious stay finally came to an
end when he got to out to a dubious decision.
Umpire Nigel Llong ruled the batsman out despite being long way
down the track.
The breakthrough incidentally turned around India’s fortunes
with last match centurion Kohli starting off with a boundary.
At the other end, Dhawan looked to have got his fluency back and
Kohli’s reassuring presence further calmed the left-hander’s nerves.
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