In a dramatic turn of event, India suffered an lower order batting collapse
which allowed Sri Lanka to register a thrilling five-run victory in the
second cricket one-dayer here today.
Chasing Sri Lanka's 257-8 built around Kumar Sangakkara's
brilliant 110, the Indians were cruising along comfortably at 235-5 at one stage
before losing the plot completely to give the visitors a 1-0 lead in the four-match
series.
The capacity crowd at the Madhavrao Scindia stadium
were left shell shocked as the hosts made a hash of their chase, losing their
last five wickets for just 17 runs from 27 balls.
It was a disappointing end for the Indians who had the game
under control till the 45th over with Sourav Ganguly (62) and Sachin Tendulkar (54) putting them on track with a 100-run third-wicket partnership.
The hosts needed 11 runs from Sanath Jayasuriya's last over
but the dismissal of the hard-hitting Mahendra Singh Dhoni (48) off the
penultimate ball made the task even more difficult.
Last man Sreesanth had to hit a six off the last ball to fetch
an improbable win but he failed to even connect the ball, much to the delight
of the Sri Lankans.
The two teams will now travel to Goa for the third match of
the series to be held on Wednesday.
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