Sri Lanka Clinches Victory Over India In Second ODI, Leads Series

India faced their first defeat under the Rohit Sharma-Gautam Gambhir leadership as Sri Lanka clinched victory in the second ODI at R Premadasa Stadium by 32 runs on Sunday, August 4.

Earlier in the match, Sri Lanka's lower middle-order and tail-enders added 44 runs from the last five balls. They managed to score 104 runs off the final 15 overs, boosting their total significantly.

Sri Lankan spinners once again dominated India's strong batting lineup. Jeffrey Vandersay, who replaced injured Wanindu Hasaranga, achieved his career-best figures of 33/6 in 10 overs. Captain Charith Asalanka also contributed with three wickets, mirroring his performance from the first ODI.

In the chase, India were cruising at 97/0 in 13.2 overs but collapsed to 147/6 by 23.1 overs. Eventually, they were all out for 208 in 42.2 overs while chasing a target of 241.

Rohit Sharma (64 off 44), Shubman Gill (35 off 44), and Axar Patel (44 off 44) were the only Indian batsmen to score more than 15 runs. Virat Kohli (14), Shivam Dube (0), KL Rahul (0), and Shreyas Iyer (7) fell to Vandersay's bowling. Rohit and Gill were also dismissed by the wrist spinner.

Dunith Wellalage, who scored an unbeaten fifty in the previous game, contributed with a quickfire 39 off 35 balls after coming in at seven. Kamindu Mendis followed with a steady 40 off 44 balls, while Dananjaya added a useful 15 off 13 balls.

Series Lead for Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka now leads the series 1-0. A win in the third ODI will secure them a series victory of 2-0. This win also ended India's streak of ten consecutive bilateral ODI series wins against Sri Lanka. The third and final ODI is scheduled for Wednesday, August 7.

The match mirrored the first ODI where India were chasing a similar target of 231 but were at a comfortable position of 75/0 before faltering. In both games, Sri Lanka managed to recover from precarious positions to post competitive totals.