The second ODI match followed a similar storyline as the first ODI, which ended in a tie. But this time, Sri Lanka emerged victorious, and by a significant margin, to take an unassailable lead in this three-match ODI series against India.
Their hero of the match on Sunday, Jeffrey Vandersay, wasn’t even in the original squad. Sri Lanka lost their main spinner, Wanindu Hasaranga, to a hamstring injury, and Vandersay was drafted into the squad on the eve of the game.
He came and spun a web around the Indian batters, producing a performance that evoked memories of Ajantha Mendis’ six-for against India in the 2010 Asia Cup final.
Sri Lanka posted 240 runs on the board. In reply, Rohit Sharma gave India a cracking start. However, Vandersay turned the game on its head, forcing India’s collapse from 97/0 to 147/6, all six wickets belonging to the leg-spinner. India couldn’t recover from there and were bowled out for 208.
SL vs IND Match Highlights And Report-2nd ODI
Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka won the toss and elected to bat first. Mohammed Siraj struck on the first ball of the match as he got the outside edge of Pathum Nissanka’s bat with an outswinger.
However, Sri Lanka got a solid second-wicket partnership of 74 (101) between Kusal Mendis (30) and Avishka Fernando (40). Knowing that a score of 240 would be defendable on this pitch, the duo batted steadily and combined to hit only 8 fours.
The Indian bowlers then bounced back with a flurry of wickets. Washington Sundar dismissed both set batters, while Sadeera Samarawickrama was dismissed by Axar Patel, playing a loose hoick across the line.
India kept denting with more wickets. Kuldeep Yadav had Janith Liyanage caught and bowled, and Asalanka was Sundar’s third victim.
Once again, as in the first ODI, Sri Lanka got crucial help from their all-rounders. Dunith Wellalage cracked 39 runs off 35 balls, and Kamindu Mendis scored 40 off 44. The hosts ended their innings at 240/9.
Also read:
- SL vs IND Match Highlights And Report-2nd ODI
- Sri Lanka vs India 2nd ODI Report
Rohit Sharma gave another thunderous start to India’s innings. This time, he had an even better strike rate than in the first match. Rohit raised his half-century in 29 balls and went on to make 64 runs off 44 balls. The India captain blasted 5 fours and 4 sixes. However, once he was dismissed, top-edging a reverse-sweep off leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay, the Lankans stormed back into the game, as they had done in the previous match.
Vandersay got all over the Indian batters with his googly. After dismissing Rohit, he had Shubman Gill (caught at first slip) and Shivam Dube (lbw) in a single over. He then got the big wickets of Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer, both lbw while defending, before castling KL Rahul. All of India’s first six wickets went to Vandersay.
Axar Patel gave a fight to keep the visitors alive in the chase. He walloped four fours and two sixes in his knock of 44 (44) but Asalanka, who had taken the last two wickets in two balls in the previous ODI, dismissed Axar and Sundar to get into India’s tail.
Asalanka also trapped Siraj lbw while Arshdeep Singh got run out, and India conceded their first ODI loss to Sri Lanka in three years.
Score summary: Sri Lanka 240/9 in 50 overs (Kamindu Mendis 44, Washington Sundar 3/30); India 208/10 in 42.2 overs (Rohit Sharma 64, Jeffrey Vandersay 6/33). Sri Lanka defeated India by 32 runs.
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