Deepak Chahar’s allround show inspires India beat Sri Lanka by 3 wickets to seal the series

By
Babita Sarkar
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Colombo: A perfect allround performance from Deepak Chahar helped India clinch a series-clinching three-wicket victory in the second ODI on Tuesday. Chasing, 276, India romped home with five balls to spare leading the series 2-0.

India didn’t make a good start to the run chase. Prithvi Shaw, who played a blistering innings in the previous match, was out for 13 only. Things didn’t look good for Ishan Kisan too as he departed for just one playing a Kasun Rajitha delivery onto his stumps. Skipper Shikhar Dhawan, whose unbeaten 86 saw India home in the last match, was plumb in front off Wanindu Hasaranga for 29.

With wickets tumbling at the other end, Suryakumar Yadav, playing just his second ODI, continued to fight at one end. The right-hander played some extravagant shots all around the wicket to complete his maiden ODI fifty. Krunal Pandya stuttered but managed to hang in there to get the chase back on track.

However, the hosts were on the top of the game when Lakshan Sandakan made the crucial breakthrough trapping Suryakumar leg-before-wicket and a few overs later, Hasaranga castled Krunal to take Sri Lanka within touching distance to a much-needed win.

But that wasn’t how the story was scripted. With Bhuvneshwar Kumar by his side, Chahar curbed his natural instincts as the duo made merry of the Sri Lankan bowlers. While Chahar remained unbeaten on 69, Bhuvneshwar scored _____.

Earlier, Chahar was good with the ball too with 2/53. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal returned with figures of 3/50 while Bhuvneswar Kumar got 3/54. For the hosts,  Charith Asalanka (65) and Avishka Fernando (50) starred with the bat.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 275/9 in 50 overs (Avishka Fernando 50, Charith Asalanka 65; Yuzvendra Chahal 3/50) lost to India 277/7 in 49.1 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 53, Deepak Chahar 69 not out, Krunal Pandya 35; Wanindu Hasaranga 3/37) by three wickets.

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