Colombo (Sri Lanka): The Sri Lankan team eked out a victory in the second ODI of the series thanks to the leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay's six-for as he ran through the Indian batting order on Sunday at the R Premdasa Stadium in here. The hosts took a lead of 1-0 in the series after the first ODI ended in a thrilling tie.
India was off to a flying start - courtesy of their openers Rohit Sharma (64 off 44 balls) and Shubman Gill (35 off 44 balls) who added 97 runs for the first wicket. Rohit, the aggressive right-handed batter, toyed with the opposition attack even as Gill played second fiddle. The Mumbaikar hammered five boundaries and four sixes in his entertaining knock as he notched up his second successive fifty.
However, his dismissal by leggie Jeffrey Vandersay opened the floodgates and India lost a heap of wickets and suffered a middle-order collapse.
34-year-old Vandersay then removed Shubman Gill, one-down Virat Kohli (14), Shivam Dube (0), Shreyas Iyer (7) and wicket-keeper KL Rahul (0) in quick succession as India slipped to 147/6 and need 94 runs to win. Axar, who came in at number five, had other ideas. He found an able ally in Washington Sundar, as they took the game deep. They added 38 runs for the seventh wicket. The Gujarat all-rounder hammered four boundaries and two sixes in his knock. However, it was skipper Charith Asalanka, who removed a set Axar, in the 34th over, to raise the hopes of the home crowd.
Axar's wicket left the Indian lower order vulnerable and Asalanka picked a couple of more wickets to bundle out the Indian team on a total of 208.
Earlier, Indian bowlers dished out a clinical show and restricted the hosts to a below-par score. Washington was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with fine figures of 3/30. Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav (2/33), Axar Patel (1/38) and Mohammed Siraj (1/43) also played their roles to perfection. Kamindu Mendis (40) and opener Avishka Fernando (40) were the joint-top scorers for the Charith Asalanka-led side. The Lankan team was restricted to 240/9 in the first innings. The third ODI will be played at the same venue on August 7
