Highlights:
- India leads the ODI series against Sri Lanka 2-0
- Deepak Chahar wins the 2nd ODI against Sri Lanks with his unbeaten 69 run knock
- Chahar reveals what coach Rahul Dravid told him before he went out to bat
On Tuesday night, Deepak Chahar was able to garner all the attention as he played a remarkable inning helping India to reach the finish line in the 2nd One Day International (ODI) against Sri Lanka in Colombo. When Chahar was batting in the middle, former India captain and coach for this Sri Lanka series, Rahul Dravid, was seen having a few anxious moments inside the dressing room.
After leading India to an improbable 3-wicket win by hitting his maiden ODI fifty, Chahar revealed what Dravid had told him before walking out to bat on Tuesday.
After Suryakumar Yadav was sent back to the dressing room, who also notched his maiden ODI fifty and ended up scoring 53 from just 44 balls, Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar teamed up and stitched an 84-run stand for the 8th wicket to finish the chase successfully with 3 wickets to spare.
In the 2nd ODI against Sri Lanks, Chahar came out as the top-scorer for India, returning unbeaten 69 which bagged him the Player of the Match award. After the game, the 28-year-old spoke about his innings and revealed what he was told by head coach Rahul Dravid.
At the post match presenatation, the 28 year old said, “No better way to win the match for the country. Rahul sir told me to play all the balls. I’ve played a few innings with India A and I think he has belief in me. He told me he thinks I’m good enough to be a No. 7.
“He has belief in me. Hopefully, in the coming matches I don’t have to bat”.
Chahar also said, “It was a decent score (to chase) on this wicket. Only one thing that was going on in my mind: this is the kind of innings I’ve been dreaming of.
“When we came under 50 is when I believed we can win. Before that, it was ball by ball. I took some risks after”.
Chahar’s unbeaten 69 is the 2nd highest score by an Indian player at Number 8 in ODIs with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja taking the top position of the list with his knock of 77 runs against New Zealand in the 2019 ICC World Cup in Manchester.
In the 3 ODI series against Sri Lanka, India now leads with 2-0.
India will now face Sri Lanka in the third and the final match of the series on Thursday at the same venue.
