 Dhoni, Zaheer guide India to victory in Dambulla
20th Aug 2008 17:01 IST
Manish Kumar
A sensible knock by captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and a fiery four-wicket haul by Zaheer Khan guided India to a three-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the second ODI of the series at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium in Dambulla today.
In a very much-improved performance, India chased down the low victory target of 143 with 10.2 overs to spare.
Opening with a new pair of Irfan Pathan and Virat Kohli, India got off to a poor start with Nuwan Kulasekara having Pathan (5) caught behind by keeper Kumar Sangakkara as early as in the third over of the Indian run chase.
In his next over, Kulasekara trapped Suresh Raina (1) plumb in front of the wicket to reduce India to 16/2.
The third wicket pair of Kohli and Yuvraj Singh added 36 runs to steady the Indian innings.
Though Yuvraj (20) was again dismissed by Ajantha Mendis, trapped plumb in front of the wicket after failing to read the leg-spinning carom ball, it was Kohli who looked at ease throughout his stay in the crease.
Giving enough glimpse of his talent, the under-19 World Cup winning captain hit six fours in his knock that came off 67 balls before he was caught in the covers by Chamara Kapugedera while driving on the up off Thilan Thushara in the 20th over.
Thushara struck again two balls later when he trapped Rohit Sharma (0) plumb in front of the wicket to set some panic in the Indian camp.
But Dhoni and debutant S Badrinath added 60 runs for the sixth wicket by playing risk-free cricket and not going for the big shots but taking singles and two runs at every opportunity and took the game away from Sri Lanka.
Dhoni (39) top scored for India with three fours and was clean bowled by Dilhara Fernando while going for a big shot.
There were some nerves in the end the Indian innings as Mendis dismissed Harbhajan Singh (1) with India needing four runs to win, but Man of the Match Zaheer partnered Badrinath, who hit an unbeaten 27, and guided India to victory and level the series.
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