When Kumar Sangakkara was run out at a time when the Indians did not look like getting a breakthrough, it was a potential turning point. But India never really grabbed their chances, frittering away whatever little came their way. Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be adding fielding to the catching casualties after this match.
dilshan ton in nagpur
Chasing India's 301, Sri Lanka never really looked in trouble, even when the chase got down to a run a ball and the batsmen were disappearing.
The fact that Gautam Gambhir wanted to call into question the spirit of cricket when the bowler Chanaka Welegedera ran to fetch the ball and collided with the batsmen who failed to eventually make the crease was far forgotten.
That was largely because Tillekeratne Dilshan played his shots, began boisterously and broke the confidence of the Indian bowlers. With a second successive hundred in this ODI series, Dilshan ensured that Sri Lanka were well ahead of the chase, especially till the Sri Lankan captain was run out needlessly.
Dilshan's own wicket, having made 123 from 112 balls, fell at the score of 3 for 213, India could have seized greater control. But Sri Lanka were well ahead to ensure that the maximum pressure laid on them would not be more than a run a ball. But the match became a close affair as Mahela Jayawardene departed for thirty-nine runs.
It took a cameo partnership between Kandamby and Angelo Matthews who held the innings together and never let the pressure overwhelm Sri Lanka. Matthews suffered an injury along the way necessitating a runner, but kept a cool head even as India lost theirs.
As if fortune favour the brave, Sri Lanka's determination to overcome their loss in the first ODI by three runs chasing 414 saw the Indians running ragged in the field when it mattered the most. A slip through the fingers resulted in fielding lapses for Virender Sehwag, Ashish Nehra and as if a cruel sense of justice was at work, had Zaheer Khan misfield badly while Nehra was bowling.
That Sri Lanka reached their target with five balls to spare only looked like irony, saving some time for the Indians who had run well overboard as far as overtime was concerned, all that painful discussion yielding nothing.
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