Yuvraj spurs India to victory on his birthday

Home ground, birthday, an ideal batting strip. The ingredients were perfect for a Yuvraj Singh recipe, and he duly produced a delectable half-century that helped notch a memorable victory over Sri Lanka in the second Twenty20 international here on Saturday. The left-hander’s batting, a cocktail of lazy elegance and cold-blooded bludgeoning, was at its best as he slammed an unbeaten 60 off just 25 deliveries, with three fours and five huge sixes. It was a superb all-round effort from Yuvraj as he he had chipped in with three important scalps earlier in the day.

Yuvraj smashed 23 off the 16th over of the innings bowled by Nuwan Kulasekara and that effectively closed out the challenge and helped India race to victory with five balls to spare. The victory came with a six off Angelo Mathews as the home side ended a four-match losing string and levelled the two-match series.

Yuvraj’s effort came after fighting knocks from Virender Sehwag and MS Dhoni, all the three efforts coming courtesy lives given by Sri Lankan fielders, and making up for their own dismal day while fielding. Yuvraj’s 80-run association with Dhoni numbed the opposition as sixes went all around the ground and the asking rate came down to hover around a run-a-ball. Dhoni, played second fiddle to Yuvraj, yet scored 46 off 28 balls with three fours and two sixes.

India’s hopes rose earlier with a blistering knock from Sehwag, who struck 64 off 35 deliveries with seven fours and three sixes. Dropped on 14 by Sanath Jayasuriya off Kaushalya Weeraratne, Sehwag was quick to create space on the off side, but a tucked four down the leg off Dilhara Fernando took him past second fifty-run mark in T20s. He was finally dismissed, caught in the deep, as he tried hard to take runs off Lasith Malinga.

Sehwag had enabled India to match Sri Lanka as they reached the three-figure mark off 9.4 overs, but the home still had a stiff task at hand at that stage.

Sri Lanka began as well as they could hope to, an 81-run stand for the second wicket rendering India’s pace attack useless. Like in the last match, dropped catches were the order of the day, with at least five clear ones taking the pressure off the opposition.

Skipper Kumar Sangakkara was among the beneficiaries, dropped on 28 by Ravindra Jadeja at the mid-wicket fence off Yusuf Pathan, who was to prove the unluckiest bowler of the day. The stylish left-hander played another fluent knock, quick to position himself in line of the ball, even when the spinners targeted his pads.

Sangakkara, who was Man of the Match at Nagpur, reached his second successive fifty with a mighty six off Yuvraj to the mid-wicket fence. He also hit a six off debutant Sudeep Tyagi, apart from eight fours for his 31-ball 59. Jayasuriya was particularly severe on Ashish Nehra, who once went for 18 in an over after being brought back to replace Tyagi, who was proving expensive with his short-pitched stuff. Sri Lanka reached 50 off just 4.3 overs and 100 in 9.2.

Some kind of sanity was restored with the spinners in action, but Chinthaka Jayasinghe (38) was allowed to prosper in the middle with three dropped chances, including two in the same over off Pathan.

Angelo Mathews too was let off once, by Dinesh Karthik in the deep, as the visiting side crossed the 200-run mark once more.

SCORECARD
Sri Lanka: T Dilshan b Sharma 1, S Jayasuriya lbw b Pathan 31, K Sangakkara c Nehra b Yuvraj 59, C Jayasinghe c Jadeja b Yuvraj 38, M Jayawardene c Tyagi b Sharma 12, c Kapugedera c Karthik b Yuvraj 2, K Weeraratne run out (Sehwag/Dhoni) 3, A Mathews not out 26, N Kulasekara not out 10; Extras: (LB7 W17) 24
Total: (7 wickets; 20 overs) 206 (10.30 runs per over)
Fall of Wickets: 1-10 (Dilshan, 1.2 ov), 2-91 (Jayasuriya, 7.5 ov), 3-121 (Sangakkara, 10.6 ov), 4-141 (Jayawardene, 12.5 ov), 5-155 (Kapugedera, 14.3 ov), 6-167 (Jayasinghe, 16.1 ov), 7-167 (Weeraratne, 16.2 ov)
Bowling: A Nehra 3-0-44-0 (W2), I Sharma 4-0-42-2 (W3), S Tyagi 2-0-21-0 (W1), Y Pathan 3-0-29-1 (W2), S Raina 1-0-10-0 (W3), R Jadeja 4-0-30-0, Y Singh 3-0-23-3 (W1)
India: G Gambhir run out (Kulasekara/Sangakkara) 21, V Sehwag c Weeraratne b Malinga 64, MS Dhoni b Fernando 46, Y Singh not out 60, S Raina run out (Kulasekara) 9, D Karthik not out 4; Extras: (LB2 W5) 7
Total: (4 wickets; 19.1 overs) 211
Fall of Wickets: 1-58 (Gambhir, 5.6 ov), 2-108 (Sehwag, 10.6 ov), 3-188 (Dhoni, 16.6 ov), 4-200 (Raina, 18.4 ov)
Bowling: K Weeraratne 3-0-43-0 (W2), N Kulasekara 4-0-50-0 (W1), L Malinga 4-0-28-1 (W2), D Fernando 4-0-29-1, A Mathews 3.1-0-49-0, T Dilshan 1-0-10-0