India lived at the death at the WACA here on Wednesday. The side found unlikely batting heroes in Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin who held their nerve in the cauldron.
At the end of it all, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team clinched a match of twist and turns by four wickets. The side now has four points from two matches in the Commonwealth Bank triangular ODI series. Australia has five from one and Sri Lanka is yet to open its account.
India required 53 runs from 14 overs – the side was 181 for six – when Ashwin joined Jadeja. Sri Lanka, which has made 233 for eight after electing to bat, was closing in for the kill.
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Ashwin (30 not out) and Jadeja (24 not out), both spin bowling all-rounders, handled the situation with a calm mind. They collected ones and two by relying on deft placements. Only when the ball was lacking in direction or length did they venture into the bigger strokes.
Jadeja cut Tillakaratne Dilshan bowling off-spin – Sri Lanka erred by going into the match without a specialist spinner – while Ashwin timed paceman Lasith Malinga through wide mid-off and pulled seamer Dhamika Prasad past the ropes. Soon, India was home.
Ashwin, who had contained and struck with his off-spin to finish with figures of three for 32 in the Sri Lankan innings, was adjudged Man of the Match.
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Virat Kohli's 94-ball 77 held the Indian innings together. The fiesty Kohli's commitment to the team's cause was exemplary. He put a price on his wicket, got solidly behind the line and handled the lifting deliveries capably.
The right-hander flicked with aplomb and pulled with panache apart from running hard between the wickets. Kohli also blasted Prasad over the straight-field for a six.
Moments later, he pushed one to mid-on and set off for a single.
Malinga took him out with a direct hit. Cramping and in pain, the brave Kolhi left the arena in dejection.
Jadeja and Ashwin left him smiling at the end of the match though. India required a start but Virender Sehwag, failing in his ploy to harness the bounce in the surface, was caught at third man off slinger Malinga.
Sachin Tendulkar rolled back the years when he – his feet movement in harmony – eased Malinga through mid-off . Tendulkar (48) looked good for more when he tried to dab an off-cutter from paceman Angelo Mathews and played on.
India failed to build sizable partnerships. Never appearing organised with his footwork on a lively pitch, Rohit Sharma succumbed to seamer Thisara Perera; Tillakaratne Dilshan came up with a blinder at point.
Suresh Raina promised much with a couple of rapier-like cover and off drives before being gobbled up by the short ball by Mathews – the left-hander simply does not get into a proper position to essay the pull.
Dhoni too perished to a pull off Prasad; Malinga ran back at wide mid-on to hold a fine catch.
Earlier, Zaheer Khan, back in the eleven, bowled with rhythm and precision. And off-spinner Ashwin rediscovered his control to bowl with heart and craft.
Bowling is a lot about partnerships – pressure has to created from both the ends – and Zaheer combined wonderfully with Ashwin in a probing pace-spin association.
Between them, the two sent down 14 Power Play overs in which their returns were four wickets for 42.
Ashwin impressed in the batting Power Play – taken between overs 36 and 40 – sending down three overs for just 10 runs while scalping two.
It was an influential piece of bowling at a critical juncture.
Mahela Jayawardene top-edged a sweep and was splendidly held by Rohit Sharma. Then the big-hitting Perera was done in by a sharp off-spinner from round-the-wicket; Dhoni pulled off a smart stumping.
Ashwin got his off-spinners to turn, switched his line to the right and the left-handers capably and employed the carrom ball judiciously.
Crucially, the variations were not of a predictable nature as he altered his trajectory and surprised the batsmen by releasing from behind the crease.
The off-spinner then consumed the talented Dinesh Chandimal with a delivery, angled across the right-hander, from round the wicket. The carrom ball got big on Chandimal and Dhoni did well to effect another stumping.
Dhoni had earlier defied gravity in the manner of a soccer goal-keeper to come up with the ball after Zaheer straightened one to find the edge of the left-handed Kumar Sangakkara's bat.
India picked one more paceman – Zaheer replaced injured leg-spinner Rahul Sharma. A 3-2 combination meant there was greater balance in the Indian attack.
For Sri Lanka, opener Dilshan (48) drove fluently off either foot and pulled well before being unable to keep a cut off left-arm spinner Jadeja down.
Chandimal (64) used his feet nicely to bind the innings and the strong Mathews gave the Lankans some fillip towards the end.
These runs were not enough for the islanders.
Scoreboard (PTI):
Sri Lanka :
Upul Tharanga c Tendulkar b Khan 4
Tillakaratne Dilshan c Kohli b Jadeja 48
Kumar Sangakkara c Dhoni b Khan 26
Dinesh Chandimal st Dhoni b Ashwin 64
Mahela Jayawardene c Sharma b Ashwin 23
Thisara Perera st Dhoni b Ashwin 7
Anjelo Mathews not out 33
Lahiru Thirimanne run out 7
Nuwan Kulasekara c Sharma b Vinay Kumar 7
Lasith Malinga not out 1
Extras: (LB—6, W—7) 13
Total: (For 8 wickets in 50 overs) 233
Fall of wickets: 1—12, 2—74, 3—100, 4—152, 5—172, 6—189, 7—204, 8—228
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 10—1—44—2, Praveen Kumar 10—0—54—0, Vinay Kumar 10—1—56—1, Ravindra Jadeja 10—0—41—1, R Ashwin 10—1—32—3.
India:
V Sehwag c Kulasekara b Malinga 10
S Tendulkar b Mathews 48
V Kohli run out 77
R Sharma c Dilshan b Perera 10
S Raina c b Mathews 24
MS Dhoni c Malinga b Prasad 4
R Jadeja not out 24
R Ashwin not out 30
Extras: (LB—5, WD—2) 7
Total (for six wickets in 46.4 overs) 234
Fall of wickets: 1—14, 2—89, 3—122, 4—157, 5—167, 6—181.
Bowling: L Malinga 9—0—49—1, N Kulasekara 8—0—38—0, D Prasad 10—0—47—1, A Mathews 9.4—1—31—2, T Perera 5—0—37—1, T Dilshan 5—0—27—0.