Sri Lanka clinch thriller to level series
Nagpur, Dec 18: Sri Lanka beat India by 3 wickets in a thrilling match in Nagpur to level series on Friday.
Earlier, India captain Mahendra Singh 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 in the second One-day International.
Dhoni 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 alone before he had reached 50, and the India captain punished them with his second successive hundred in ODIs at this venue, following his match-winning 124 against Australia on October 28.
The India captain, who fell to impressive debutant Suraj Randiv for 107 in 111 balls that included eight fours and two sixes, and Raina (68) stitched a stand of 126 in only 119 balls for the fifth wicket to lift India to the 300-plus score after the hosts were struggling just past the halfway stage. Coming together when their side were 132 for four in the 27th over, they helped their side with a run-a-ball partnership on a wicket that offered a lot of turn to the slow bowlers and not a bowler’s graveyard as was the case in the first ODI at Rajkot.
