Deepak Chahar scored his international career’s maiden half-century as India defeated Sri Lanka by three wickets in the second ODI match. Chahar picked up two wickets before playing an unbeaten knock of 69 to successfully lead India’s run chase against the hosts.
Batting first, Sri Lanka made 277-9 in their quota of 50 overs. Charith Asalanka was the top scorer with a knock of 69 runs, while opener Avishka Fernando made 50. Chamika Karunaratne remained unbeaten at 44.
When India began their run chase, they kept losing wickets at a regular interval even though the visitors were able to maintain a decent run rate.
India were 160-6 in after the 27th over. This became 193-7 after Krunal Pandya was out for 35. With two bowlers, Deepak Chahar and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar on the crease, all hopes for an Indian victory appeared to be fast evaporating.
But, Chahar stunned his fans as he began to showcase his batting prowess. Chahar remained not out at 69, while Kumar was unbeaten at 19. Together, both batsmen added 84 runs for the 8th wicket.
Reacting to his side’s defeat, Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka said after the match, “I’m really proud of how the boys played today. They fought hard to get a win. Really tough game, credit to the Indian players, especially Deepak who took the game away from us. I think we started really well today. The middle period we lost wickets; I think the thing we shouldn’t do in the next game is give them easy wickets. We should bat well until the last powerplay. I didn’t bowl for a long time because there were enough bowlers in the team, but I took a chance today.”
Chahar was declared Man Of The Match for his all-around efforts in the match. India lead the three-match series 2-0 with the final ODI scheduled to be played on 23 July.
