India beats Sri Lanka to level T20 series at 1-1

Mohali, India:  Yuvraj Singh followed up a three-wicket haul with an unbeaten 60 off 25 balls on Saturday as India recorded the biggest successful run chase in international Twenty20 history to beat Sri Lanka by six wickets.

Yuvraj claimed 3-23 from three overs as Sri Lanka was restricted to 206-7 at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.

He then scored his fifth Twenty20 half-century to help India reach 211-4 with five balls remaining, surpassing South Africa's 208 against West Indies at the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup and leveling the two-match series against Sri Lanka.

India's Virender Sehwag hit 64 from 36 balls and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni made 46 off 28 deliveries.

For Sri Lanka, captain Kumar Sangakkara made 59, Chinthaka Jayasinghe 38 and Sanath Jayasuriya 31.

Sri Lanka won the first match by 29 runs at Nagpur on Wednesday.

Sehwag got India off to a superb start as the team chased down Sri Lanka's big total on a decent batting track. He hit six boundaries and two sixes as he shared a 58-run stand with Gautum Gambhir, who was first back to the pavilion for 21 after being run out attempting to pinch a third off a misfield.

With Dhoni joining Sehwag at the crease, India added a further 50 runs before the latter fell to Lasith Malinga as he tried to force the pace.

Yuvraj, celebrating his 28th birthday, came in with his side needing 99 runs from 54 balls and looked in fine nick straightaway.

By the time Dhoni was out, yorked by Dilhara Fernando in the 17th over, India needed 19 from 19 balls and Yuvraj provided the perfect finish by heaving Angelo Mathews for six.

Yuvraj, whose knock contained five sixes and three fours, was named man of the match and Kumar Sangakkara was handed the man-of-the-series award.

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka Innings
Tillakaratne Dilshan b Sharma 1
Sanath Jayasuriya lbw b Pathan 31
Kumar Sangakkara c Nehra b Yuvraj 59
Chinthaka Jayasinghe c Jadeja b Yuvraj 38
Mahela Jayawardene c Tyagi b Sharma 12
Chamara Kapugedera c Karthik b Yuvraj 2
Kaushalya Weeraratne run out 3
Angelo Mathews not out 26
Nuwan Kulasekara not out 10
Extras: (7lb, 17w) 24
TOTAL: (for 7 wickets) 206
Overs: 20.
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-91, 3-121, 4-141, 5-155, 6-167, 7-167.
Did not bat: Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga.
Bowling: Ashish Nehra 3-0-44-0 (2w), Ishant Sharma 4-0-42-2 (3w), Sudeep Tyagi 2-0-21-0 (1w), Yusuf Pathan 3-0-29-1 (2w), Suresh Raina 1-0-10-0 (3w), Ravinder Jadeja 4-0-30-0, Yuvraj Singh 3-0-23-3 (1w).

India Innings
Gautam Gambhir run out 21
Virender Sehwag c Weeraratne b Malinda 64
Mahendra Singh Dhoni b Fernando 46
Yuvraj Singh not out 60
Suresh Raina run out 9
Dinesh Karthik not out 4
Extras (2lb, 5w) 7
TOTAL: (for 4 wickets) 211
Overs: 19.1.
Fall of wickets: 1-58, 2-108, 3-188, 4-200.
Did not bat: Yusuf Pathan, Ravinder Jadeja, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma, Sudeep Tyagi.
Bowling: Kaushalya Weeraratne 3-0-43-10 (2w), Nuwan Kulasekara 4-0-50-0 (1w), Lasith Malinga 4-0-28-1 (2w), Dilhara Fernando 4-0-29-1, Angelo Mathews 3.1-0-49-0, Tillakaratne Dilshan 1-0-10-0.
Result: India won by 6 wickets.
Series: Drawn at 1-1.
Toss: Sri Lanka.
Umpires: Shahvir Tarapore and Sanjay Hazare, India.
TV umpire: Sudhir Asnani, India. Match referee: Jeff Crowe, New Zealand.