Sri Lanka snatch a thrilling five run win

Chris Dhambarage reporting from India

CRICKET: Sri Lanka put up a magnificent performance as they snatched a thrilling five run victory from the jaws of defeat after Kumar Sangakkara hammered a classic one hundred in the second one day international against India played at the Madhavrao Scindia Stadium in Rajkot here on Sunday.

The Indians were cruising along at one stage following two powerful half centuries from the master batsman Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

The two Indian stalwarts looked like taking the game away from the Lankans with a century partnership from just 122 deliveries after they had been reduced to 29 for 2 in the fourth over of the innings.

But the Lankans fought back magnificently and picked up wickets at regular intervals during a superb late rally.

They never gave up hopes and believed in themselves as they turned a certain defeat into a memorable victory. India who were well placed at 129 for 3 suddenly found themselves in a spot of trouble needing 18 runs from the last three overs.

This was following some accurate bowling from Farveez Maharoof, Nuwan Kulasekera and Lasith Malinga who came back strongly after having conceded fifty runs from his first five overs.

In fact Maharoof bowled a fantastic penultimate over conceding just the three runs while keeping the more aggressive Dhoni out of the strike.

India began the final over needing eleven runs and still had hopes with Dhoni in good form and striking the ball well.

But the more experienced Sanath Jayasuriya lived upto expectations and delivered the last over while conceding only a boundary and a single to seal an exciting victory.

Earlier Tendulkar simply carried on his excellent form after a successful series against the West Indies by hammering 54 from 51 balls with nine boundaries.

Ganguly went on to hit a top score of 62 off 79 balls with the help of one six and half a dozen of boundaries. Both made heavy use of the power play overs and set the pace for an easy victory.

Dhoni was dismissed in the penultimate ball of the final over after he had hit a solid 48 with Farveez Maharoof holding on to a superb running catch at deep mid on under tremendous pressure.

This was after Kumar Sangakkara had completed his sixth one day international century as Sri Lanka recovered from a disappointing start to post a challenging 257 for 8 from their 50 overs after being sent into bat by Indian captain Rahul Dravid.

The stylish left hander played the sheet anchor role after they had slumped to 58 for 4 at one stage. He consolidated the innings quite beautifully and re build the innings with the support of Tillekeratne Dilshan.

Dilshan returned to form with a fighting half century as he plundered 56 from just 65 balls with seven hits to the ropes. Together with Sangakkara the pair successfully launched a counter attack which pushed the home side to a great extent.

However the dismissal of Dilshan in the 36th over of the innings put a lot of pressure on Sangakkara who was left with the responsibility of carrying Sri Lanka to a strong position. He lived upto that reputation and carried his bat almost until the end having played one of the finest knocks seen at this venue.

Sangakkara's effort came on par with the great Vivian Richards of the West Indies who also hit an unbeaten 110 against India at this same venue in 1988. His knock was the third highest individual score at Rajkot behind New Zealander Nathan Astle's 120 in 1999 and Virender Sehwag's 114 against the West Indies in 2002.

Sangakkara and Dilshan also set up a new ground record putting on 108 runs for the fifth wicket which easily erased the previous best of 66 runs set by another Sri Lankan combination of Arjuna Ranatunga and Asanka Gurusinha during the Nehru Cup tournament way back in 1989.

Sangakkara really accelerated the scoring rate during the latter stages with his second fifty coming from just 46 deliveries. He took on the Indian bowling almost single handedly and launched a calculated attack before making his exit in the penultimate over of the innings.

But by that time Sri Lanka had crossed the two hundred and fifty run mark with all rounder Farveez Maharoof also making a significant contribution.

In fact Sangakkara and Maharoof simply tore the Indian attack during their seventh wicket stand of 61 runs with their fifty run partnership coming from just 44 balls.

The pair however departed in successive deliveries with opening bowler claiming four wickets for 50 runs from his nine overs only the second time a bowler had picked up a four wicket haul at this venue.

Sri Lanka left out paceman Nuwan Zoysa and brought in Nuwan Kulasekera from the eleven that played in the first one day international in Kolkata on Thursday.

(Rajkot, Sunday)

SRI LANKA

U. Tharanga c Tendulkar b Sreesanth	11
S. Jayasuriya c Dhoni b Patel		 9
M. Atapattu lbw b Patel			15
K. Sangakkara c Sehwag b Patel 		110
M. Jayawardene c Dhoni b Sreesanth	 4
T. Dilshan b Harbhajan			56
R. Arnold lbw b Tendulkar		 7
F. Maharoof c Karthik b Patel		17
M. Bandara not out 			 3
N. Kulasekara not out			 4
Extras (lb14, nb3, w4)			21
TOTAL (for eight wickets)		257
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16, 2-31, 3-53, 4-58, 5-166, 6-188, 7-249, 8-249.
BOWLING: Patel 9-0-49-4, Sreesanth 10-1-39-2, Ganguly 2-0-14-0, 
Harbhajan 10-0-41-1, Kumble 10-1-59-0, Tendulkar 9-0-41-1.

INDIA

R. Uthappa c Jayawardene b Maharoof	 7
S. Ganguly c Sangakkara b Malinga 	62
R. Dravid b Maharoof			 5
S. Tendulkar st Sangakkara b Bandara	54
V. Sehwag c Sangakkara b Bandara	19
M. Dhoni c Maharoof b Jayasuriya	48
D. Karthik lbw b Malinga		31
H. Singh c Jayawardene b Maharoof	 2
A. Kumble run out			 2
S. Sreesanth not out			 0
Extras (b1, lb5, nb7, w9)		22
TOTAL (for nine wickets)		252
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-14, 2-29, 3-129, 4-154, 5-169, 6-235, 7-241, 8-248, 9-252.
BOWLING: Malinga 10-0-75-2, Maharoof 10-0-42-3, Kulasekara 10-0-48-0, 
Bandara 10-0-36-2, Jayasuriya 9-0-38-1, Dilshan 1-0-7-0.