Team India started the second one-dayer from they left the series opener and handed a thumping six-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka. There was no stopping for the Ambati Rayudu-powered men in blue as they went 2-0 up in the five-match series in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
It was the same story for the Islanders as they failed to contain the Indian batsmen, with opener Shikhar Dhawan again showed his prowess, while Rayudu struck his maiden ODI century. The Lankan Lions failed to restrict India in the middle overs, despite getting an early breakthrough.
Team India chasing a competitive 275 lost last match’s centurion Ajinkya Rahane (8) cheaply when he Mahela Jayawardena took a smart catch in the slips. But, it was the only movement when the visitors looked to have got proceedings under control.
The pair of Dhawan (79) and Rayudu stitched a 122 runs partnership for the second wicket to put India in control. Despite Dhawan’s departure, India never lost momentum as stand in skipper Virat Kohli looked in good touch and almost sealed the deal for his team.
Kohli (49) fell short of a well-deserved fifty but made a crucial 116 runs partnership with Rayudu for the third wicket. India lost Kohli and Suresh Raina (14) on quick successions but it was too late for the Lankan Lions as Rayudu (121 not out) and Ravindra Jadeja (1 not out) finished the match.
“It’s just giving the guys a bit of belief and confidence from my end, Duncan and the management as well, to go out there and perform, and the guys have responded beautifully so far,” Kohli said. “Actually, a blessing in disguise to lose the toss, quite a bit of dew later on.”
“Rayudu was in the India A team 12 years back, and it’s all about giving him the opportunity that he deserved, and he made full use of that,” he added. “We are treating every game as the last game of the series. That’s the kind of culture we’re building in this team.”
Earlier after electing to bat first, Sri Lanka posted a competitive total on the board thanks to a fine-fifty from Angelo Mathews and a well-complied innings from Dhammika Prasad. The Islanders could have posted a bigger total but they lost wickets in the middle.
Prasad (30 not out) and Mathews (92 not out) made an unbeaten 52 runs partnership for the 10th wickets, which propelled them to a good total. Umesh Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin and Akshar Patel took two wickets each, while Jadeja finished with one wicket.
“The 300 mark, makes a lot of difference. We lost our way in the middle and couldn’t pull through,” Mathews said after the match. “These wickets are quite good for the batsmen and you need to score runs in the top four as well.”
“We’ll try to make it up in the next game, but it was an embarrassing performance,” he added. “We need to try and get wickets because it’s never easy, with their batting line-up, to contain. We’ve got to pull out our best to try and see if we can beat the Indians.”
