Twitter reacts to Sri Lanka posting a competitive total in front of India

After the comprehensive loss against the visitors in the First ODI at Dambulla, Sri Lanka was determined to make a comeback into the series to keep their hopes alive in the series. The entire Sri Lankan population demanded a better performance, especially looking at their recent performances against India in the Test series and the embarrassing loss against minnows Zimbabwe.

Virat Kohli’s luck with the toss continued as he won the fifth consecutive toss on the trot in this tour of Sri Lanka. No prizes for guessing, Kohli opted to chase as he brought in an unchanged side at Pallekelle. Upul Tharanga, on the other hand, had three changes in his team. The captain brought in Milinda Siriwardena, Akila Dhananjaya and Dushmantha Chameera in place of Thisara Perera, Lakshan Sandakan and Wanidu Hasaranga, who were ordinary in the First ODI.

Much like in Dambulla, Niroshan Dickwella and Dhanushka Gunathilaka started off the proceedings at a rapid pace and gave their wicket away in a soft manner. MS Dhoni brilliantly dislodged the bails even after a fumble to dismiss Gunathilaka. Dickwella was outfoxed by Bumrah as he tried to give himself some room towards the leg side.

Similar to the proceedings in Dambulla, Sri Lanka were reduced to 121-5 after Angelo Matthews was dismissed in the 29th over. It appeared to go downhill for the hosts but Siriwardena (58) and Kapugedera(40) had other ideas. They stitched a vital partnership of 91 off 99 balls to resurrect the Lankan innings.

At one point in time, the Lions might have looked at a score of around 250-260, but the Indian bowling attack constantly chipped in with wickets during the death to restrict Sri Lankans to 236 for the loss of eight wickets. The star for India during the first half of the innings was Jasprit Bumrah who picked up a four wicket haul. Chahal also chipped in with a couple of wickets while Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel shared a wicket each. India now has to chase down 237 to go 2-0 up in the series.

Here’s how Twitter reacted