19 December,2009 06:37 AM IST | | A Correspondent
Has India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni given up on hopes of seeing a superlative fielding effort from his team? Probably. "The way we field, I think we should score 20 more runs," he said at the presentation after losing the second one-dayer to Sri Lanka here last night.u00a0
Zaheer Khan rues his luck last night. PIC/AP
The Indians did have some good moments in the field, but a lack of overall alacrity and some horrid moments for Zaheer Khan towards the end of the game did play its part in the three-wicket defeat.
India didn't have the a good start to their innings with in-form batsmen Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir being dismissed cheaply. "The kind of start we got, we were quite happy to get 300 on board," said Dhoni, who helped himself to a hundred which went in vain thanks to a wondrous hundred from Tillakaratne Dilshan.
"We needed some early wickets with the new ball but that didn't happen and the spinners couldn't put pressure. We need to take wickets with the new ball," Dhoni said. Victorious skipper Kumar Sangakkara said: "If I had held on to my catch and stumping (referring to the Dhoni let-off) I don't think they would have got 260. All credit to Dilshan who is playing out of his skin. The guys on the field today tried very hard. It was a great effort."
Zaheer's moments to forget
l Before the 49th over, Sri Lanka needed 10 to win with Agnelo Mathews (30) and new batsman Ajantha Mendis at the crease. On the fourth ball, Zaheer failed to stop a Mathews drive at mid-on and the ball raced to the boundary. Bowler Nehra couldn't believe it.
l Nehra's last ball witnessed another blow as Zaheer stumbled when he got near the ball to give Mendis a reprieve. It would be unfair to blame Zaheer's fielding solely since India had yet another off day in the field despite some good efforts from Harbhajan and Kohli.
