India Under-17s were riding on a high after crushing minnows Oman in their opening encounter but when pitted against an equal the very next day they simply wilted away. Sri Lanka Under-17s dismissed the Indians from their presence with fine 61 run win in their ACC Asia Cup match at the Bangladesh Krira Shixa Protisthan Ground at Savar in Dhaka.

Put into bat, Sri Lanka made a lacklustre start to the innings with openers WU Tharanga (47) and KD Gunawardene (6) adding just 20 runs. The first ball of the sixth over saw the departure of Gunawardene, caught by ASK Verma off Bignesh Mohanty. This brought the Sri Lankan skipper MSR Wijeratne (42) to the crease and a 65 run second wicket partnership ensued between Wijeratne and Tharanga. The latter was the next to be dismissed, caught behind by Parthiv Patel off Shankara Rao.

The fall of Tharanga ushered in wicketkeeper GT De Silva (77 not out) to the crease. With his captain for company De Silva forged a 47 run third wicket stand when Verma pouched a catch to send back Wijeratne. Then De Silva found ample company in Maharoof (21) and WADM Perera (26) to help Sri Lanka post a fighting total of 244/5 in 45 overs.

In response, India lost an early wicket, that of skipper Parthiv Patel (23), by way of a run out. His partner Shikar Dhawan soon joined him in the confines of the pavilion. In the eleventh over of the innings, Dhawan (3) was caught by Ratnayake off Gunawardene. New batsman Deepak Chougule (11) also did not last long and six balls later was trapped leg before by Dilshan. With the score at 42/3 the Indian innings was heading towards calamity.

But Mohnish Mishra (54) joined Verma (28) and took the score to 101. Verma then departed, stumped by De Silva off Nishantha. This prompted a minor collapse as Stuart Binny (0) and G Shankara Rao (1) fell in quick succession to leave India at 110 for 6. With only the tail to follow, the task of overhauling the Sri Lankan total was looking bleak. But in spite of the valiant efforts of NR Rathod (19) and Kuldeep Rawat (23) the innings folded up in the 43rd over. India managed only 183 in their run chase. The wickets were shared all around with RWMGA Gunawardene (3 for 27) being the pick.

© CricInfo