Colombo: Mahela Jayawardene gave India a scare but what probably gave the tourists the edge in the end was the crucial 80-ball 76 made by their skipper. It once again looked a familiar story for India as the Lankan bowlers were on top when MS Dhoni made his way in the middle on Sunday.
With the score reading 91-4 in the 23rd over, Dhoni had to stall the guile of Mendis and also up the ante. And the Indian captain was more than upto the task.
First along with Suresh Raina, Dhoni counterattacked Mendis with gusto, stitching up 54 runs for the fifth wicket and then put up a quickfire 67-run stand with Rohit Sharma. And for the first time in the tour, India had answers to the mystery of Ajantha Mendis as he was clobbered for consecutive fours.
After milking the Lankan bowling, Dhoni broke loose at the death. The Indian skipper after reaching his fifty, changed gears to a brutal mode, hammering eight boundaries to all corners of the Premadasa stadium.
It was brilliant acceleration at the death by Dhoni that took India to 237-9, which in the end proved to be a winning total.
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