Sri Lanka vs India, 2nd ODI at Colombo, SL v IND, Jul 20 2021 - Ball by Ball Commentary

11.47pm And that closes our coverage tonight. Thank you for joining us and we'll see you soon. On behalf of Raghav and Debayan, this is goodbye.

Shikhar Dhawan: I felt that today the wicket was much better than the last match and that we restricted them on a good score. It was really good the way bowlers adjusted their lines and lengths. We were confident of chasing it, but we didn't start well. It was a good lesson for them. These sort of matches we're gonna learn a lot as a team and they'll learn how to handle games like these. Unfortunately Manish got out, that was hard luck. It was tremendous to see Chahar and Bhuvi. I'd like to mention Krunal as well. Everyone showed character. The odds were low but we knew that he's batting well in the nets. His presence of mind, his calculation - in the last four overs they didn't take on the legspinner because at the time he was lethal. I felt that the way Sri Lanka planned their innings, batting and bowling - they brought the spinner on early - and the way they fielded was good to watch and learn. They worked very hard but glad that we're on the winning side. Every game whether we win or lose, it's a learning. We are also going to get better.

Dasun Shanaka: I'm really proud of how the boys played today. They fought hard to get a win. Really tough game, credit to the Indian players, especially Deepak who took the game away from us. I think we started really well today. The middle period we lost wickets; I think the thing we shouldn't do in the next game is give them easy wickets. We should bat well until the last powerplay. I didn't bowl for a long time because there were enough bowlers in the team, but I took a chance today.

Just on Deepak Chahar being a No. 7, and dreaming of this, here is a piece from January 2011 when he had taken 40 wickets in his maiden Ranji season as an 18-year-old. He told Abhishek Purohit that he dreamt of playing for India as an allrounder. Today is a dream come true: Chahar hitches his wagon to a star

Deepak Chahar: It was hot there, we did well there. Got two wickets. We managed to stop them at 270. It was a decent score [to chase] on this wicket. Only one thing that was going on in my mind: this is the kind of innings I've been dreaming of. No better way to win the match for the country. Rahul sir told me to play all the balls. I've played a few innings with India A and I think he has belief in me. He told me he thinks I'm good enough to be a No. 7. He has belief in me. Hopefully in the coming matches I don't have to bat. When we came under 50 is when I believed we can win. Before that it was ball by ball. I took some risks after.

Deepak Chahar is the Player of the Match.

Kiran Bhanushal: "I know the scale of this win doesn't feel similar, but this win is so so similar to India vs Australia in the Titan cup in 1997. Kumble and Srinath, 2 bowlers at the very end dragged India to victory in Bangalore. This time it was Chahar and Bhuvi!"

Sohit: "Got to feel for Sri Lanka, they gave in everything but just lacked that tiny bit of luck needed to win such games."

kelvin wilson: "That's some one from Dhoni academy "

Kedhar: "Playing out the last two overs of Hasaranga with just 1 and 2 runs needs a lot of confidence and composure!. "

Mohit: "More than his batting skills, Chahar's game awareness and temperament impressed me.He has not even tried to hit Hasaranga in the last spell and Hasaranga was the only wicket taking bowler in the death.Chahar knew he can just play him out and get those runs of others."

Milind: "Shanka was brilliant in his 3 overs and just went lost with Sandakan bowling his full quota… lot to learn as a captain."

chotu: "These two were sensible enough not to give their wicket to Hasaranga in the end.. just 3 runs from 12 balls.."

11.22pm First SKY, then Prithvi, then Ishan Kishan leap onto Chahar! An unbeaten 69 to take India home - the third highest chase in Sri Lanka in a day-night game. Only Ravindra Jadeja with his 77 in the World Cup has scored more batting at 8 or lower for India. This is big moment for Chahar - India have struggled with a thin lower order for years now in this format. This is a big step in the way of a senior team call-up for him. A run-a-ball 84-run stand for the eighth wicket takes India home. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, with his experience of pulling off a chase very similar to this in Sri Lanka, unbeaten on 19 at the other end. The deeper this game got, the more and more it felt like it was India vs Wanindu Hasaranga. The fast bowlers took some tap, and these two seemed to calculate for that. They played Hasaranga out and trusted themselves to get through the others, and they've done it with five balls to spare. This will sting Sri Lanka so much - they absolutely bossed India in the middle overs. They had India 116 for 5 at one stage, and they tied Krunal Pandya up. But SKY kept one side going and Krunal took it deep enough. Still - it was Sri Lanka's game to lose at that point. And they just couldn't finish it off. Got to feel for them. The errors crept in at the end, and it's another reality check that there is some way to go for this team. They are showing signs that they will go that way, and that's the consolation prize for them tonight.

Back to Rajitha

This from Deivarayan Muthu: Stephen Fleming had originally picked Deepak Chahar as a batting allrounder for Rising Pune Supergiant(s) , back in the day, after he had hit a fifty in one of the practice matches. Chahar was also part of Dhoni's chaos theory for CSK in IPL 2018

Kusal: "Hasaranga nowadays always seems to contribute either with bat or ball. Once he gains consistency in both departments, he will genuinely be on the level of Stokes, Jadeja, Holder, etc." --- Yes, good combative cricketer. I like him a lot

Back to a run-a-ball!

The penultimate over has been handed over to Chameera

India happy not to lose a wicket here. What a spell today from Warindu Hasaranga!

Apoorv: "And we keep looking at Hardik as fast bowling all-rounder. Instead we must groom Chahar and Shradul for the role is Test matches "

Roshan: "I understand saving Hasaranga but shouldn't have bowled out Shandakan. You had Dhananjaya de Silva bowl some overs . A part timer bowling means you can cut short an off colour full timer a few overs" --- To be fair, Sandakan was just getting into some rhythm. Did have a poor final over, though

Chinmay : "Both Bhuvi and Chahar are showing glimpses of having learned this art from Dhoni. Just the confidence and calm both are showing is exemplary. "

Chahar adds to the drama here. Just seems to have cramped up a bit. Has had some attention paid to him, and looks fine to continue. These are very humid conditions at the Premadasa, and he has done a lot of running since he has come in to bat.

Isaac Marshall: "Lol they were clearly saving a couple of overs of Wanindu for the end just in case it got sticky. Probably a bad idea, should have tried killing it off early as well as squeezing in more Shanaka and Dhananjaya."

Tense finish ahead. This over probably suggests Hasaranga will have atleast one more shot with the ball. Depends on how much ground India can cover leading upto that point.