Dhoni’s Indians make it 2-0 thanks to Ishant

India win seventh ODI in a row by beating Sri Lanka in Colombo

Dhoni's Indians make it 2-0 thanks to Ishant

India win seventh ODI in a row by beating Sri Lanka in Colombo

Battling half-centuries from Mahela Jayawardene and Thilina Kandamby were in vain as India sealed a thrilling 15-run win over Sri Lanka to go 2-0 up in the one-day series.

Jayawardene (52) and Kandamby (93 not out) resurrected Sri Lanka's innings with a 100-run stand for the fourth wicket after the home side had lost their top three batsman for just 36 runs.

Great finish

But Ishant Sharma, who finished with four wickets for 57 from 10 overs, bowled a superb penultimate over, conceding one run, which left Sri Lanka needing 20 runs off the final over to beat India's 256 for nine. However, Ajantha Mendis was run out to hand Indiau00a0 victory, it's seventh ODI win in a row.

Yuvraj Singh top scored for India with 66, but Sri Lanka began their reply in style. Openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan took 11 runs off the first over sent down by Zaheer Khan.

The left-arm paceman, however, made some amends in his second over by dismissing Dilshan for eight.

Zaheer conceded 24 from his first three overs and quickly made way for Ishant, who struck immediately. Ishant got rid of the dangerous Jayasuriya (17), and Praveen Kumar then picked up the wicket of Kumar Sangakkara (four) to leave the hosts in disarray.

Ishant incident

Play was briefly held up when Ishant was hit on the back of the neck by a missile thrown from the crowd just after the 50 partnership came up.

Earlier, Yuvraj had set India up with a knock that was a mixture of caution and aggression. The left-hander put on 85 runs for the fourth wicket with Suresh Raina (29) to steady a line-up which had slipped to 83 for three.

Brief scores: India 256 for 9 (V Sehwag 42, G Gambhir 27, Yuvraj Singh 66, S Raina 29, M S Dhoni 23, Y Pathan 21; Kulasekara 2-61, Maharoof 2-40, Mendis 2-44) vs Sri Lanka 241 all out (M Jayawardene 52, T Kandamby not out 93, C Kapugedera 31; I Sharma 4-57). Result: India won by 15 runs.

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