Sri Lanka Annihilate India To Level ODI Series

Hambantota: Sri Lanka hammered India in the second One-day International here Tuesday to level the five-match series 1-1.

The Indian batsmen, bundled out for 138 in 33.3 overs, looked out of sorts against the Sri Lankan pace trio of Thisara Perera, Angelo Matthews and Lasith Malinga. Gautam Gambhir waged a lone battle and was the last man out on 65.
The home team got home in 19.5 overs, thanks to openers Upul Tharanga (59 not out) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (50).
A batting failure from India was unexpected after they had amassed 314 on their way to victory in the opening game Saturday.
The pitch had more grass in comparison to Saturday’s game but it wasn’t enough to pose problems for the famed Indian batting line-up.
Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir got off to a flyer, scoring 31 from the first three overs. That was India’s lone brief moment in the match as Sri Lanka did not give them an inch from there on.
Perera (3-19) removed the stars of the last game, Virender Sehwag (15) and Virat Kohli (1) in successive overs to trigger the collapse. The medium pacer plucked on to a brilliant return catch to get rid of Sehwag while the in-form Kohli edged one to wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara, leaving India 33 for two.
Rohit Sharma (0) was the next one to depart after being bowled off Matthews (3-14) for the second time in a row. Like Sharma, Suresh Raina also played on to make it 41 for four.
The wickets kept falling at regular intervals as Gambhir was left stranded at the other end.
Sri Lanka chased down the target with ridiculous ease. Their first 64 runs came in nine overs before the supper break.

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