Mahendra Singh Dhoni capped Zaheer Khan's devastating spell with a crucial 39 as India posted a tense three-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the second one-day international here today.
Left-arm seamer Zaheer ran through the top order in his incisive opening spell to finish with 4-21 as India bundled Sri Lanka out for a meagre 142. He was brilliantly backed by paceman Praveen Kumar (3-34).
But India skipped a few heartbeats before achieving the modest target with more than 10 overs to spare to level the five-match series 1-1.
They were wobbling at 5-75 after seamers Thilan Thushara and Nuwan Kulasekara shared four wickets, but skipper Dhoni and debutant Subramaniam Badrinath (27 not out) held their nerve under pressure.
When Dhoni inside-edged paceman Dilhara Fernando's delivery on to his stumps, his team were just eight runs short of the win with four wickets in hand.
Unorthodox Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis yet again made the Indian batsmen struggle for runs with shrewd variations, getting the big wicket of Yuvraj Singh before finishing with 2-22 off 10 overs.
Yuvraj (20) tried to ease the pressure by smashing Thushara for three fours in two overs, but his flourish did not last long. He was trapped leg-before by Mendis to leave his team wobbling at 52-3.
India appeared to have squandered the advantage given by Zaheer when they lost makeshift opener Irfan Pathan and Suresh Raina in Kulasekara's opening spell and then Virat Kohli (37) and Rohit Sharma in Thushara's one over.
Dhoni and Badrinath then applied themselves well to add 60 for the sixth wicket which proved vital in a low-scoring game.
Sri Lanka were earlier in danger of falling to their lowest-ever total of 96 against India when they were reduced to 44-6, but Thushara (44) and Kulasekara (25) rallied their side with a defiant 74-run stand.
The Indian skipper's decision to put the hosts in to bat after winning the toss produced instant results as Zaheer bowled Kumar Sangakkara with his sixth delivery which moved in sharply to hit the off-stump.
Zaheer claimed two wickets in his third over, removing in-form skipper Mahela Jayawardene and Chamara Kapugedera.
Kumar had Chamara Silva caught by Kohli at point to reduce the hosts to 4-11. He also ended Sri Lanka's fightback when he dismissed Thushara and Kulasekara in the same over.
Sri Lanka's aggressive opener Sanath Jayasuriya, watching the disaster unfold from one end, was not allowed to play strokes as he faced 37 balls for his 13 runs before being trapped leg-before by Zaheer.
Tillakaratne Dilshan (16), the last specialist batsman, was caught by a diving Badrinath at deep midwicket off a mistimed pull off seamer Irfan Pathan.
India, already without regular openers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag due to injuries, had earlier suffered another blow when Gautam Gambhir was ruled out of the match due to a stiff neck.
Sri Lanka named Fernando in their playing eleven in place of left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas, who missed the match due to a hamstring injury.
The third match will be played in Colombo on Sunday.
