Thriller and a tie: Captain Cool Dhoni earns India a draw and two points against Sri Lanka

Mahendra Singh Dhoni fought like an emperor amongst the ruins as he again stood between India and defeat, but for once, Mahendra Singh Dhoni couldn’t pull a rabbit out of his hat, writes The Times Of India. Yet, to the credit of the India captain, even if he failed to author another sensational win for his side, he ensured that his team did not finish on the losing side, says the report, adding that in doing so, he made his 200th One-Day International more memorable by ensuring a tied game against Sri Lanka in a nerve-wracking finish here on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Hindustan Times writes that lightening almost struck twice but 'almost' meant India ended up losing (or winning, depending on your perspective) two points as a result of a tied match against Sri Lanka in the CB Series. It still required yet another heroic effort from skipper MS Dhoni to avert defeat. Besides the venue, there were many similarities between Tuesday's match and the one against Australia on Sunday. The two points were enough to put India, who have played an extra game than others, at the top of the points table.

The Hindu terms the match a face-off of the gladiatorial kind, adding that the world's foremost death-overs paceman against a feared finisher -- it was Lasith Malinga versus Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the Adelaide Oval. “India required four runs off the last ball. Malinga, his mane gleaming under the lights, steamed in. Dhoni settled into his stance. The crowd held its breath. The Sri Lankan's thunderbolt was full and outside off. Dhoni, with an acrobatic one-legged slash, fired the ball over cover. The Indian captain and last man Umesh Yadav ran three amid tension, suspense and hectic Sri Lankan fielding. The match ended in a nerve-jangling tie. Dhoni, sweat streaming down his visage, was once again India's saviour in the climactic stages and deservedly the Man-of-the-Match,” writes the paper.

With a boundary required off the last ball, the game was all but put to bed next to Malinga’s ‘How to bowl yorkers off the last ball’ bed-time book. But Lasith Malinga squirted it a little wider and shorter than he would have liked, an error that Dhoni obliged by shovelling over the extra-cover fielder. Umesh Yadav ran as fast as he bowled, while two fielders in the deep relayed the throw back to Malinga’s jittery palms. Dhoni had completed the third, and like the over-all contest, the battle between the finishers ended in a tie, says the report in The Indian Express.