The Ambati Rayudu’s smashing knock of 121* helped the team India to register their second win in the ongoing ODI series against Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka set a modest target of 275 for India in the second ODI played in Ahmedabad. Skipper Virat Kohli had promoted the hard hitting Rayudu to bat at number three and the trick worked.
Ambati Rayudu steered a spectacular win for India
Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat first. The Indian bowling attack didn’t allow the Lanka to score high and Umesh Yadav was successful in dismissing the opener Kusal Perera in the very first over of the match. Perara was playing in place of the dashing left handed batsman Upul Tharanga, but Perera failed to make any impact in the match.
Then, experienced Sangakkara came to join Dilshan and the duo was successful in rotating the strike. Tilekratne Dilshan smashed four boundaries in the tenth over of the match bowled by off spinner R. Ashwin. However, Dilshan’s inning came to end in the very next over when Akshar Patel bowled him out. Mahela Jayawerdene couldn’t stay for long either as he was dismissed by Ashwin cheaply.
It was the painstaking effort by the Sri Lankan captain Mathews and Sangakkara that helped Sri Lanka post a modest total on the scoreboard. Their 90 runs partnership between them didn’t last long as the dangerous looking Sangakkara failed after scoring his 87th ODI half centuries. He was out for 61 . Angello Mathew fought back the Indian bowling attack and scored an unbeaten 92. At the end of 50 overs, Sri Lanka managed to put only 274 runs on the board at the loss of 8 wickets.
Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane came to open the inning for team India. The openers added only 17 runs in the first six overs. Sri Lankan bowlers were bowling in perfect line and length. Rahane soon got out at a full length delivery. Skipper Kohli decided to promote Rayudu who has been in and out of Indian cricket team for a while now.
The cautious batting by both the Dhawan and Rayudu gave India much needed consolidation that the team needed after losing Rahane. However, they kept rotating the strike.
Once these batsmen got hold of the Lankan bowling attack, then there was no looking back for them. The batsmen scored boundaries at their ease. Shikhar Dhawan went on to score 79 runs before he gave a top edge to Priyanjan at the deep square leg. The duo added a total of 122 runs partnership on the scoreboard.
Captain Kohli came out to bat at Number 4. Rayudu and Kohli guided the team India well. However, when India needed just twenty odd runs to win, Kohli got out at 49. Soon Suresh Raina joined Rayudu to finish the game, but Raina too got out early just when India’s score was 270.
All rounder Ravinder Jadeja walked in to finish the match, but it was Rayudu who hit the well deserved winning boundary to script India’s win. India won the match by six wickets. Rayudu got the Man-of-the-match for his magnificent century.
Tags: 2nd ODI, Ambati Rayudu, Cricket, India, Shikhar Dhawan, Sri Lanka
