Sri Lanka vs India, 2nd ODI, Pallekele : 5 Talking Points

Sri Lanka had their task cut out to remain alive in the 5-match series post their humiliating loss in the 1st ODI at Dambulla. The focus then shifted to Pallekele where the second ODI was scheduled to be hosted. Virat Kohli continued his winning streak even with the toss as India won the fifth consecutive one on the tour.

Kohli won the toss and elected to bowl first as Sri Lanka struggled through the majority of their inning. Sri Lanka crawled towards 236 by losing 8 wickets with the help of important knocks from Siriwardena and Kapugedera.The hosts found Bumrah too hot to handle as he picked up a four wicket haul. Indians look in no spot of bother in their chase as the openers made merry of the conditions.

It all changed after the introduction of rookie off-spinner Dhananjaya who turned the match on its head with help of his six wickets. However, Bhuvi and MS Dhoni held their nerves, taking the side towards victory. India won the match by a couple of wickets by DLS method and Dhananjaya was adjudged as the man of the match for his magical spell. Here are the five talking points of the match

1. Siriwardena-Kapugedera partnership

After getting a solid start from their openers Niroshan Dickwella and Dhanushka Gunathilaka, the Sri Lankans were reduced to 121-5 from 70-1. Yet again, it was a similar tale from Dambulla where the Lankans lost wickets in clumps to give away their momentum. Dickwella and Gunathilaka literally gave their wickets away by soft dismissals while Tharanga, Mendis and Matthews were victims of the pressure applied by the Indian bowlers.

However, Chamara Kapugedera and Milinda Siriwardena steadied the Lanka ship and forged a vital partnership of 91 runs off 99 balls. Siriwardena brought up his second half century in his ODI career as he was dismissed for a run a ball 58(2×4,1×4) while trying to accelerate during the death overs. Kapugedera contributed 40 runs to the total.