Ranatunga prediction coming true?
Dhoni, Raina keep their cool and steer India
Clinch one-day series
INDIA, Thursday (AFP)
India fought back from the brink to defeat Sri Lanka by four wickets
in the fourth one-day international here on Thursday to take a decisive
4-0 lead in the seven-match series.
Chasing Sri Lanka's 261, India slumped to 180-6 before the
seventh-wicket pair of Mahendra Dhoni and Suresh Raina steered the hosts
home with an unbroken 82-run partnership.
Dhoni, India's new one-day wonder who smashed an unbeaten 183 in the
previous match at Jaipur on Monday, sealed the impressive win in the
46th over with two consecutive sixes off Russel Arnold.
Dhoni returned bat in hand with a 43-ball 45 and super-sub Suresh
Raina justified his substitution at the expense of seamer Sri Sreesanth
with an unbeaten 39 off 34 balls.
It was India's first one-day series win on home soil since beating
Zimbabwe 3-2 in March 2002 and came with three games in hand in
Ahmedabad on Sunday, Rajkot on November 9 and Baroda on November 12.
Faced with a do-or-die situation, Sri Lanka appeared to do everything
right till Indian seamer Ajit Agarkar grabbed five wickets and captain
Rahul Dravid hit 63.
The Indians, electing to field on a hard wicket assisting seam
movement and bounce, reduced Sri Lanka to 51-3 by the 11th over before
skipper Marvan Atapattu led the tourists' fightback with a defiant 87.
Atapattu, who had scored just 22 runs in the first three matches,
dropped himself down the order to number five and returned with his 54th
one-day half-century studded with seven boundaries.
Atapattu put on 97 for the fourth wicket with Tillakaratne Dilshan
(52) and 83 for the fifth with Russel Arnold (32).
But the tourists, coasting at 231-4 in the 44th over, lost their last
six wickets for 30 runs.
India themselves saw Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh being
dismissed by the ninth over before Dravid took charge.
He put on 78 for the third wicket with Virender Sehwag, who made a
typically aggressive 48 off 58 balls, and 64 for the fourth with
Venugopal Rao (38).
Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan removed Sehwag, Rao and
Irfan Pathan in quick succession and Dilhara Fernando dismissed Dravid
to raise hopes of an upset win.
But Dhoni and Raina, cheered by some 35,000 home fans at the Nehru
stadium, kept their cool under pressure to thwart the tourists.
"With guys like Dhoni, Raina and the rest around, the future of
Indian batting is very exciting," said an appreciative Dravid.
"It looked a close game but Dhoni and Raina made it easy for us.
"We can't ignore the contribution of Agarkar and Harbhajan Singh, who
bowled superbly and helped us restrict the Sri Lankan total.
"It has been a very good team performance in the series, I hope we
can keep it up."
Sri Lanka's Atapattu was disappointed the game did not turn his
team's way.
"We put up a good score but things did not go too well for us and
India ended up finishing the game pretty well," he said.
"There were some crucial misses in the field but that happens when
things are not going for you.
"We are now very keen to win the last three games and take something
from the series."
K. Sangakkara lbw b Agarkar 8
S. Jayasuriya lbw b Agarkar 16
U. Tharanga c Agarkar b Sreesanth 21
T. Dilshan c Tendulkar b Harbhajan 52
M. Atapattu c and b Sehwag 87
R. Arnold b Pathan 32
Farveez Maharoof b Agarkar 3
C. Vaas c Dhoni b Agarkar 11
M. Muralitharan b Agarkar 9
N. Zoysa run out 2
D. Fernando not out 0
Extras: (lb11, w9) 20
TOTAL 261
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-17, 2-36, 3-51, 4-148, 5-231,
6-237, 7-241, 8-252, 9-261
BOWLING: Pathan 9-0-49-1, Agarkar 9.5-1-44-5, Sreesanth 8-2-49-1,
Yadav 4-0-23-0, Harbhajan 10-0-35-1, Yuvraj 2-0-14-0, Sehwag 7-0-36-1
Overs: 49.5
V. Sehwag c Arnold b Muralitharan 48
S. Tendulkar b Vaas 11
Y. Singh c Dilshan b Zoysa 10
R. Dravid c Vaas b Fernando 63
V. Rao c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 38
M. Dhoni not out 45
Irfan Pathan c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 0
S. Raina not out 39
Extras: (lb2, w4, nb2) 8
TOTAL (for six wickets) 262
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-23, 2-34, 3-112, 4-176, 5-180, 6-180
BOWLING: Vaas 6-1-29-1, Fernando 9-1-43-1, Zoysa 8-0-46-1,
Maharoof 4-0-41-0, Muralitharan 9-0-35-3, Jayasuriya 3-0-18-0,
Dilshan 5-0-28-0, Arnold 1.4-0-20-0
Overs: 45.4
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