Not every win can be emphatic. But it’s a win nonetheless. India at least would like to think that way after labouring to a four-wicket win in the second ODI against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens here on Thursday, taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series in the process.
As a bowling unit, India didn’t let the absence of Jasprit Bumrah or Yuzvendra Chahal show as Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj took three wickets apiece to dismiss Sri Lanka for 215 in just 40 overs. Chasing it down however, proved to be trickier once Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli were back in the pavilion before the 10-over mark.
KL Rahul—who remained unbeaten on 64 off 103 balls—and Hardik Pandya then dug in their heels to add 75 in 119 balls but it took a lower order effort to help India overhaul the target with 40 balls to spare. “We always try to find a way to win, and it was nice to cross the line in the end,” said Rahul after the win. “Today we lost early wickets, so it was important to soak the pressure. If we are chasing 280-300, then we would attack. But today there was no need.”
A mixture of poor shot selection and good bowling from medium pacer Lahiru Kumara was responsible for India’s initial setbacks in the chase. Sharma went after a length ball from Chamika Karunaratne without moving his feet, ending up edging it to Mendis behind the wickets. Gill was the next to depart, falling once again to the short-arm jab pull from wide outside the off-stump, picking Fernando at short mid-wicket off Kumara’s ball. But it was really Kohli’s wicket that got Sri Lanka pumped up. Another length ball from Kumara, only this time it nipped back sharply and didn’t rise as much, caught Kohli by surprise as he inside-edged it onto his stumps. And when Shreyas Iyer was given leg-before, India were really in a spot of bother.
{{/usCountry}}A mixture of poor shot selection and good bowling from medium pacer Lahiru Kumara was responsible for India’s initial setbacks in the chase. Sharma went after a length ball from Chamika Karunaratne without moving his feet, ending up edging it to Mendis behind the wickets. Gill was the next to depart, falling once again to the short-arm jab pull from wide outside the off-stump, picking Fernando at short mid-wicket off Kumara’s ball. But it was really Kohli’s wicket that got Sri Lanka pumped up. Another length ball from Kumara, only this time it nipped back sharply and didn’t rise as much, caught Kohli by surprise as he inside-edged it onto his stumps. And when Shreyas Iyer was given leg-before, India were really in a spot of bother.
{{/usCountry}}A flurry of boundaries could have eased the nerves but this was a tacky Eden Gardens pitch where the ball stopped a bit as well. And Sri Lanka were bowling well too, with pacers generously using the bouncers and wrist spinner Wanindu Hasaranga exploiting his variation to concede just 28 runs in his quota of 10 overs.
India took note and got their shields up, to an extent where they didn't hit a boundary for 33 balls. But they were still on the right side of the asking rate as Rahul and Pandya rotated the strike, nudging and slicing the gaps. Out of the 119 balls they faced together, 71 were dots and only seven boundaries were hit. India looked almost over the hump when Pandya poked at a length ball from Karunaratne.
The innings was slowing down again but with a commanding pulled six over midwicket in the 37th over Axar Patel stepped on the gas. Patel’s run-a-ball 21 was just the trigger needed to get India back on track as Rahul reached his fifty in 93 balls before guiding the team to the target without any more setbacks.
It could have been a tougher chase had Sri Lanka put some more runs on the board. But between the visitors and a stiffer target for India stood Yadav, picked after Chahal was deemed not enough to take the field. Trapping Kusal Mendis leg-before the first over he was brought on, Yadav triggered a spectacular collapse on an otherwise benign Eden Gardens pitch that Siraj said had no swing in it after the first few overs.
The first blow was dealt by Siraj in the sixth over when he used the scrambled seam to lure Avishka Fernando into a cover drive, only for the ball to nip back and take his inside edge onto the stumps. From that dismissal to Mendis’s, Sri Lanka were on an overdrive as debutant Nuwanidu Fernando carved a fighting fifty while adding 73 for the second wicket. With a start so promising, Sri Lanka wouldn’t have been faulted for dreaming big. Till Yadav struck, trapping Mendis leg-before.
Going for an expansive drive, Dhananjaya de Silva let an Axar Patel arm ball slide through a yawning gap between his bat and pad before a brilliant piece of fielding ran out Nuwanidu. Flicking Patel to midwicket, he set off for a run but Shubman Gill dived to stop the ball and throw it back to the wicketkeeper. Nuwanidu was already more than halfway down the pitch when Asalanka sent him back.
Yadav then sped up the innings by dismissing Asalanka before getting Dasun Shanaka to sweep him too far inside his line and expose his leg stump. It would have been easier for India had Sri Lanka’s lower order not resisted. Wanindu Hasaranga scored a cameo while Dunith Wellalage scored a responsible 32 off 34 to help Sri Lanka cross the 200-run mark.