SL VS IND - 2nd ODI, India tour of Sri Lanka, 2021

Quite the perfect mad game this. Just to reiterate, India had absolutely no business getting close tonight, let alone winning. But such is this Indian team. They refuse to give in. They refuse to lie down and get steamrolled. And Sri Lanka, well, slip further down. It's one thing to lose, and it's a whole different thing to get stung. And boy, this will sting big time, for years. Okay, it was fun bringing you all of this, as I, Vineet Anantharaman, sign off on behalf of Akshay Maanay, Raju Peethala and our scorer, Siva. Until the 23rd, and hopefully something to match up to this drama, ta ta!!

Harsha Bhogle: India have a spot open for the bowler who can bat at 8. Deepak Chahar has just done a magnificent audition for that role. The ability to close a game is what separates teams. This was Sri Lanka's game but because they have won so little recently, they got consumed by the stress of winning. Bat deep. The modern mantra of white ball cricket. Bat deep and keep going for it.

Shikhar Dhawan | Winning captain: I felt that the wicket today was much better and we restricted them to a good score. The spinners fought back and the bowlers adjusted their line and lengths when their batsmen were in. We didn't start well and it is a good learning lesson for the youngsters that everyday is not the same. They will understand how to handle these situations and how to bring in new strategies. The way Manish Pandey and Suryakumar were batting, we thought they would take us home. Hard luck to Pandey for the way he got out. The way Krunal fought in the middle was amazing. Everyone showed character. We knew that Chahar has worked hard in the nets on his batting. His presence of mind and calculations against the leg-spinner was amazing. Both Bhuvi and him calculated it really well. I felt the way Sri Lanka planned their innings in both their batting and bowling was amazing. The way they batted and fielded was good to watch. They worked really hard, but glad that we are on the winning side. Every game is a learning lesson and we hope to analyse and get better. We want to put up a good show all the time.

Dasun Shanaka | Losing captain: I am really proud with the ways the boys played today. It was a really tough game. Credit to the Indians and especially Deepak, who took the game away from us. We started well again but lost several wickets in the middle overs. We shouldn't give them easy wickets and we need to bat better till the batting powerplay. Actually I didn't bowl for a while because there were enough bowlers, but I took a chance then after that.

Deepak Chahar | Player of the Match: Few drop catches (with the ball) and it was hot there and we did well after that, and I got two wickets. In the end we stopped them to 270s which is a decent score. Only one thing was going in my mind (When I came out to bat) and this is the kind of thing you dream when you start playing cricket and when playing for India. No better way to win the match for the nation. Rahul sir told me to play all the balls. I have played few innings for India A and he has belief in me and always believes in me and that was a game changer. We have a fantastic batting line-up and hopefully I won't get to bat in the next games. This is the first time for me in such a situation. We were just playing ball by ball and when it came under 50 that is when I decided to hit boundaries and after that six (42.2 - off Sandakan) it gave me the momentum.

Most runs required at the fall of 5th wkt in a successful run chase (India)
180 vs Eng Lord's 2002 (Target: 326)
160 vs SL Colombo RPS (276)
160 vs Zim Harare 2005 (251)
153 vs WI Cuttack 2011 (212)

- This is the first time India have successfully chased down a target of 250+ without any of the top three scoring 50+ since beating Zimbabwe in Auckland in WC 2015, chasing 288.

Most wins against an opponent in ODIs
93 Ind vs SL *
92 Aus vs NZ
92 Pak vs SL
84 Aus vs Eng

Highest individual score for India batting #8 or below in ODIs
77 R Jadeja vs NZ Manchester 2019
69*D CHAHAR vs SL Colombo 2021
69 JP Yadav vs NZ Bulawayo 2005
67*A Agarkar vs Zim Rajkot 2000

23:23 Local Time, 17:53 GMT, 23:23 IST: There are certain habits in life that die hard, and reversing a losing streak is apparently the hardest. Ten ODIs at home, over nine years, so much so that they've now conceded an 84-run stand for the eighth wicket to keep that streak alive. Oh, but it's India's time to celebrate. Suryakumar leaps onto Chahar. And then the moment he lets go of him, Shaw runs in and jumps on him. And Ishan's waiting in line to do the same. From battling injury after injury, to being reduced to a four-over bowler, to coming in to bat with just formalities remaining for the Lankans. Well, the Deepak Chahar story adds another chapter. And it's a chapter in determination. He stuck it out, fought it out, first with Krunal, and then when Bhuvi joined him, the fight became pretty. It became calculated. They played out Hasaranga. And around that, kept milking the seamers, who were happy to dish out some weird lines with weird fields. Still, this was brutal. This was a robbery in full daylight. Here come the presentations ..

Rajitha to Chahar, FOUR, heaves it over, empty mid-wicket, and Chahar has pulled India out of the jaws of defeat in utter style. This was lost, this was really lost. Ah, whodathunk .. India win by 3 wickets

Kasun Rajitha [7.0-0-49-1] is back into the attack

3 runs | 6 balls. Just pure, proper, table-turner.

Chameera to Bhuvneshwar, FOUR, again into that empty third man zone. It might look edgy, once again it's that wide full-paced line with third man inside that is to blame. Kumar slices, gets it over

Chameera to Chahar, 1 run, length, outside off, and a dragged slap to long-off

Chameera to Chahar, 2 runs, hard, flat cut. And shockingly, sweeper fumbles, leaks a second, and gets Chahar back on strike. The wheels are clearly falling off, and Mickey Arthur cannot watch this. He's walked off in disgust ..

Chameera to Chahar, no run, tries another cute dab, gets another soft outside edge, but the keeper will cut this off

Chameera to Chahar, FOUR, another edge, another boundary. This is a pattern now, with Chameera dishing out pace, width and Chahar slapping at it and getting it past short third man. Yes, this is luck, but this line is doing nobody any favour ..

Chameera to Bhuvneshwar, 1 run, a cutter, around off, and nudged away softly into mid-wicket

15 runs | 12 balls. Sri Lanka really need to gamble with spin now. Their pacers cannot squeeze this further.

Hasaranga to Chahar, no run, it's a dot. It's a one-run over. And incredibly, it's a moral victory to the Indians. They've played him out, and Chahar's kept out a googly, rocking back in his crease and punching it out to cover