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Sri Lanka - 236/8 (Siriwardana 58, Bumrah 4-43, Chahal 2-43)
India - 231/7 (Rohit 54, Bhuvneshwar 53*, Dhoni 45*, Dananjaya 6-54)
Result - India won by 3 wickets
Kandy: MS Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar Kumar came in to rescue Indian side against Sri Lanka in the second ODI of the five-match series when the two compiled an unbeaten partnership of 100 runs as India won the match by 3 wickets in Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy on Thursday.
Kumar went on to score a half-century while Dhoni remained not out on 45.
India were handed a target of 231 runs in 47 overs after rain delayed the start of their innings. Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma provided the visitors with perfect start as they scored 109 runs for the first wicket before Sharma was sent back by Akila Dananjaya for 54.
Dhawan was soon sent back in the hut after he tried to sweep a delivery from Siriwardana over fine leg but failed to clear the 30-yard circle. Mathews who was standing at short-fine leg region ran to his left and grabbed a magnificent diving catch to dismiss the Indian batsman for 49.
The visiting team looked in control but the 18th over of the innings from Dananjaya turned the course of the match on its head. The leggie scalped a total of three wickets inn that over that included the dismissals of Kedar Jadhav, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul.
The right-hander cleaned up Kedar Jadhav for 1 on the very first delivery of the over. Indian captain Kohli came in at number 5 but had a disappointing and a brief stay at the crease. He scored a boundary of the first ball that he played but failed to read a wrong-un only to get bowled by the right-handed bowler.
The third wicket of the over came in the form of KL Rahul who was dismissed in the same fashion as his skipper. Dananjaya broke his defense to dismantle the wood work behind him. He later removed Axar Patel for 6 by trapping his in front of the stumps.
Earlier, Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka took the score to 35 for no loss from the first six over. There were some gorgeous looking shots from the former, pulling the short ball, making room for himself to play through point. But, his wicket in the eighth over slowed down Sri Lanka.
A good platform was laid for the middle-order to build on but Sri Lanka managed to do what they have done all through this series — collapse. They are 70 for 1 and collapsed to 125 for 5 before a sensible half-century from Milinda Siriwardana helped them closer to 200. But all Sri Lanka could managed was 236 for 8 in 50 overs.
Gunathilaka, unlike his partner, was slow to begin and never took the risk against the pacers. So when he did take it against spinner Yuzvender Chahal, he missed delivery and was stump. The leg-spinner moved the ball nicely away from the left-hander before MS Dhoni removed the bails after a fumble.
Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews were removed in quick succession leg-before wicket and in similar fashion. Both tried sweeping full deliveries but missed. Sri Lanka needed some runs in the middle overs but those wickets combined with some tight bowling from the spin duo of Chahal and Axar Patel bowled a tight line which did not allow the batsmen to run away with the game.
The last ten overs fetched only 57 runs despite having five wickets in hand. Axar and Chahal combined for 20 overs but gave only 73 picking up three wickets. Kedar Jadhav had to pitch in for Hardik Pandya who went off the field due to a knee problem. Bumrah, though, was brilliant at the death and finished with four wickets from 10 overs.
