Rayudu's century lifts India to easy victory over SL in second ODI

Ambati Rayudu slammed his maiden hundred as India produced yet another comprehensive batting performance to ease past Sri Lanka by six wickets in the second One-Day International, in Motera, Ahmedabad, on Thursday.

- Scorecard

Electing to bat first, Sri Lanka posted a competitive 274 for eight in their 50 overs with skipper Angelo Mathews top scoring with a brisk 92. In reply, India never looked in any sort of trouble as they chased down the target with minimum fuss in only 44.3 overs to take a 2-0 lead in the five match series.

With stand-in captain Virat Kohli promoting him at No 3, the 29-year-old Rayudu justified his skipper's faith scoring an unbeaten 121 off 118 balls with the help of 10 fours and four sixes in an innings that was paced perfectly.

He shared two fruitful partnerships off 122 runs for the second wicket with Shikhar Dhawan (79) and 116 for the third wicket with Kohli (49) as the hosts again made the inexperienced Sri Lankan bowling attack look pedestrian.

Fittingly enough, it was Rayudu, who finished the match with an inside out boundary off leggie Seekkuge Prasanna.

With this century, 29-year-old Rayudu became the fourth oldest Indian batsman to score his maiden ton in ODIs after Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath and Robin Singh.

Growing in confidence after reaching his half-century, Rayudu lofted Dhammika Prasad for his third six when in the 80s and then confidently slammed spinner Suraj Randiv for a six before reaching the coveted landmark with a single to square leg.

Rayudu's previous highest was 64 not out made in England at Nottingham in August as he showed a lot of maturity during his innings.

Having taken two catches and also effected a run-out, Rayudu deservingly won the man-of-the-match award.

The Guntur-born batsman first steadied the ship after the cheap dismissal of Ajinkya Rahane to stitch the first century stand with Dhawan, whose 79 off 80 balls was laced with a six and seven fours.

The third match will be played in Hyderabad, on Sunday, November 9.

Earlier, Angelo Mathews struck a fighting fifty to lift a struggling Sri Lanka to 274 for eight in their 50 overs.

Electing to bat, the visitors lost early wickets but Mathews' unbeaten 92 - his innings laced with 10 fours and a six - and Kumar Sangakkara's valiant 61 took the side to respectability. The duo stitched a crucial 90-run fourth-wicket partnership after Sri Lanka were struggling at 64 for three.

With the visitors being reduced to 220 for eight in the 44th over, Mathews got support from No. 10 Dhammika Prasad and the duo stitched a valuable 54-run unbeaten partnership to give the islanders the necessary push in the end.

India pacer Umesh Yadav (2-54) struck with two important wickets before spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (2-49) and young Axar Patel (2-39) took charge to hurt the Sri Lankan batting in the middle overs.

Ravindra Jadeja, brought into the side for injured Varun Aaron, disappointed though he took a wicket with his left arm spin but ended up conceding 64 runs.

Sri Lanka commenced on a poor note when Kusal Perera, who had replaced Upul Tharanga, fell to the sixth ball of the match when he played across and was trapped leg before wicket by Yadav.

Tillakaratne Dilshan, at the other end, batted aggressively and took ten runs with the help of two successive fours in Yadav's second over.

The seasoned batsman then hit Ashwin for four successive fours in the bowler's first over, and tenth of the innings, to give the innings some momentum as the Lankan total reached 50.

However, he was cleaned up left-arm spinner Patel in the very next over after having added 51 runs for the second wicket with Sangakkara. He also hit seven fours in making 35 off 30 balls.

Ashwin, then, made amends for his first-over profligacy by inducing the other senior batsman in the line-up, Mahela Jayawardene, to flick straight to midwicket fielder Ambati Rayudu – who took a diving catch – to leave Lanka struggling.

The two dismissals arrested the run-rate as Sangakkara and captain Mathews played cautiously and started the innings rebuilding process.

Mathews slog-swept Ashwin over mid-wicket for a six, but otherwise both batsmen were content in pushing the ball into gaps and taking runs.

Sri Lanka's 100 was raised in 21.2 overs before 37-year-old Sangakkara reached his 87th half century in his 352nd ODI off 73 balls.

Sri Lanka took the batting Powerplay after 31 overs but failed to take advantage as they lost three for 30 in the five overs of fielding restriction.

The big breakthrough for India came when Sangakkara surprisingly hit a full toss from Yadav, bowling his second spell, straight to the fielder at mid-on.

Sangakkara's 61 came off 86 balls and had four fours in it and the 90-run stand he figured in with captain Mathews in 111 balls restored the faltering innings.

Then the inexperienced Seekkuge Prasanna hit a six off Ishant and a leg-side four off Ravindra Jadeja before top-edging a sweep off the left arm bowler, who replaced injured Varun Aaron in the eleven, to deep fine leg fielder Rayudu.

Ashan Priyanjan perished cheaply as he fell run out for one to leave his team struggling on 179 for six after 36 overs.

However, some wayward bowling by Jadeja – who was hit for three leg-side fours by Mathews and a straight six by Thisara Perera in the 40th over of the innings helped the visitors advance to 205 for 6 after 40 overs.

Patel dismissed Perera in the next over as the batsman attempted a wild heave on the leg side but lost his stumps to give the Indian newcomer his second wicket.

Mathews did not have enough support from the lower order as Suraj Randiv was bowled by Ashwin without having a clue about facing the bowler.

The medium pacers came back at the death and provedexpensive as Lanka added 46 runs in the last five overs with Mathews doing the bulk of the scoring.