2014 India Vs Sri Lanka Second ODI AT Ahmedabad Thursday Nov 06,2014

India will be starting as overwhelming favourites at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, having walloped the opponents by 169 runs in the opening match.

India went into the series opener with their confidence boosted by back-to-back victories over West Indies at Delhi and Dharamsala, after a shock loss at Kochi in the series opener.

India lost the last ODI game they played at this ground, against the West Indies by 16 runs nearly three years ago after tripping then reigning champions Australia in the World Cup quarter finals in March, 2011, at this venue on way to the coveted title.

It's in bowling that Lanka appear the weaker side especially without the services of slinger Lasith Malinga and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath who are not with the touring party.

The Sri Lankan batting-order has vast experience in the big three – Tilakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene – apart from Upul Tharanga, but a few of these batsmen have to fire big in unison to match the Indian batting might.

Squads

India

 Virat Kohli (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Murali Vijay, Stuart Binny, Akshar Patel

Sri Lanka

 Angelo Mathews (capt), Kusal Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Ashan Priyanjan, Niroshan Dickwella, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dhammika Prasad, Lahiru Gamage, Chaturanga de Silva, Seekuge Prasanna, Suraj Randiv.

Sri Lanka won the toss and decied to bat first

India make one change. Ravindra Jadeja in for the injured Varun Aaron and Sri Lanka have brought in Kusal Perera for Upul Tharanga.

PLAYING XIs:

INDIA: Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli (c), Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Akshar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma

SRI LANKA: Kusal Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Angelo Mathews (c), Priyanjan, Thisara Perera, S Prasanna, Suraj Randiv, K Prasad, P Gamage

India 275 for 4 (Ambati Rayudu 121*,Shikhar Dhawan 79 and Virat Kohli 49) beat Sri Lanka 274 for 8 (Mathews 92*, Sangakkara 61 and Dilshan 35)
 

Ambati Rayudu's unbeaten maiden ODI century fashioned India's six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the second ODI at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad


Promoted to No.3, Rayudu rose to the challenge and scored 121 off 118 balls after coming to the crease at 18/1. He was involved in a 122-run stand with Shikhar Dhawan (79) to set-up the innings and then built a 116-run partnership with Virat Kohli to ensure the team a comfortable win. 

Ambati Rayudu hit the winning boundary to attain the 275-run target with 33 balls to spare and lead the hosts to a 2-0 lead in the five-match ODI series 
MOM - Ambati Rayudu

Playing his 21st ODI, Ambati Rayudu (121*) made his maiden ODI hundred. He became 35th Indian to score an ODI hundred. 

Only three Indians have scored a maiden ODI hundred at an older age than Ambati Rayudu.The details:

Age	Batsman	Runs	Opponents	Venue	Year
38 Yrs 113 Days	Sunil Gavaskar	103*	New Zealand	Nagpur	1987
37 Yrs 117 Days	Mohinder Amarnath	100*	West Indies	Faridabad	1988
33 Yrs 343 Days	Robin Singh	100	Sri Lanka	Colombo SSC	1997
29 Yrs   44 Days	Ambati Rayudu	121*	Sri Lanka	Ahmedabad	2014
28 Yrs 243 Days	Dilip Vengsarkar	105	England	Pune	1984

 

India (275-4) registered their second highest successful chase in 15 ODIs at Ahmedabad. The best still remains 325-5 against West Indies in 2002.

Incidentally, India had won only one out of last six ODIs at Ahmedabad.

India have now won eight and lost only two of their last 10 completed ODIs against Sri Lanka.