Gutsy Deepak Chahar showed exactly why there is so much talking about the bench strength of the Indian cricket team and hit 69 not out off 82 balls in a perfectly paced innings to hand visitors a 3-wicket win in the thrilling 2nd ODI.
India were in a tricky situation after losing 5 wickets for 116 runs while chasing a 276-run target set by the hosts. However, first Suryakumar Yadav (53 off 44) and then Deepak Chahar showed sheer determination and stood tall in front of the challenged thrown by Sri Lankan bowling attack which showed a lot of venom in their side’s must-win match. Not to forget, Krunal Pandya also played a handy 54-ball 35-run knock, stitching vital partnerships with Suryakumar and Krunal. Vice-captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar (19*) also stood solid for 28 balls to accompany Chahar.
“Great win by the boys. From a tough situation to pull it off was an amazing effort. Great to watch. Well done DC and Surya. Tremendous knocks under pressure,” Virat Kohli tweeted after took an unassailable 2-0 lead.
Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka also doffed has hat to Deepak Chahar and credited him for India’s win.
“They fought hard to get a win. Really tough game, credit to the Indian players, especially Deepak who took the game away from us,” he said about Deepak Chahar, who also took 2 wickets in the match.
The final ODI, a dead rubber now, will be played on Friday.
