Dilshan helps Sri Lanka beat India by three wickets

NAGPUR: Sri Lanka defeated India by three wickets in the second One-day International at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium on Friday. Sri Lanka achieved the target of 302 with five balls to spare after opening batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan scored a flamboyant 123. For India, Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit 107 as the hosts made 301 for seven.
Chasing India's 301 for 7 built around a captain's knock of 107 by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the visitors made up for their narrow defeat at Rajkot by overhauling the target with five balls to spare in a pulsating floodlit contest.
The explosive Dilshan notched up his second consecutive and fifth One-day hundred to lay the platform for the run chase for Sri Lanka.
India did well to recover from a rather sluggish start to post 301 mainly relying on Dhoni's fireworks in the end but a few fielding lapses in the very fag end in the Sri Lankan innings tilted the scale in the visitors' favour in a match which went down the wire.
The capacity crowd at VCA Stadium in Jamtha were treated to another run feast with both teams scoring over 300 runs but unlike the Rajkot feast the bowlers did get some assistance from the track.
The Indians, whose fielding has left a lot to be desired in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka, were patchy in their bowling and the early dismissals of Virender Sehwag (4) and Gautam Gambhir (2) when they batted did have a bearing in the final outcome.
The two sides travel to Cuttack for the third One-dayer on December 21.
Pacer Zaheer Khan struck thrice in quick succession after Ashish Nehra got the prized wicket of Dilshan to raise visions of a second successive a second successive come-from-behind win for the hosts before Angelo Mathews, who remained unbeaten on 37, guided the visitors home.
Dilshan, who struck 12 fours and two sixes, and fellow opener Upul Tharanga (37) gave the Lankan innings a flying start scoring 102 in 14 overs to ease the job for the latter order batsmen.
Dilshan fell in the 36th over, yorked by Ashish Nehra bowling his second spell, and then Zaheer sent back Mahela Jayawardene (39), Thilina Kandamby (27) and Chamara Kapugedara (2), the latter two in the space of three balls.
But Mathews, who used a runner in the later part of his crucial knock, kept his cool and gathered runs after having lost Kandamby in the first over of the batting power play, taken after the 44th over when the visitors were 262 for four, and Lanka coasted home at 302 for seven in 49.1 overs.
Dhoni cracked his sixth hundred and strung together a breezy century stand with Suresh Raina to lift his side to an imposing 301 for seven after electing to bat first.
Dhoni, who faced 111 balls and struck eight fours and two sixes, had the proverbial cat's luck as he was let off on four occasions by the butter-fingered Lanka fielders, thrice by his counterpart Kumar Sangakkara before he reached 50.