Tharanga and Silva prop up Sri Lanka

CRICKET: Upul Tharanga and Chamara Silva hit solid half-centuries to help Sri Lanka post a competitive 254-6 in a World Cup match against India here on Friday.

India bowled superbly for a major part of the innings before losing their way in the closing 10 overs which yielded 75 runs, thanks to Silva’s 68-ball 59 for his third successive half-century.

Silva put on 83 for the fifth wicket off just 80 balls with Tillakaratne Dilshan (38), ensuring his team crossed the 250-mark.

Left-handed opener Tharanga top-scored with a fighting 64 for his sixth half-century, but was unable to dominate the disciplined pace-spin attack.

Seamers Zaheer Khan (2-49), Munaf Patel (1-46) and Ajit Agarkar (1-33) all bowled tightly on a pitch which offered movement and bounce early in the innings.

India, needing a win in this game to boost their chances of qualifying for the next Super Eight stage, kept pressure on the Sri Lankan batsmen as they never allowed them to build a notable partnership till the closing overs.

Veteran Sanath Jayasuriya (six), who hammered a century in the previous game against Bangladesh, was the first to go when he top-edged a Zaheer delivery to be caught by Agarkar at the third-man boundary.

Tharanga kept his end intact with his sensible knock, but received little support as in-form skipper Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara fell cheaply to leave their team in a spot.

 SRI LANKA

U. Tharanga lbw b Tendulkar          		64
S. Jayasuriya c Agarkar b Zaheer               	 6
M. Jayawardene c Dhoni b Agarkar                 7
K. Sangakkara c Patel b Ganguly               	15
C. Silva c Dhoni b Zaheer                     	59
T. Dilshan c Dhoni b Patel                    	38
R. Arnold not out                             	19
C. Vaas not out                               	19
Extras (lb-11, nb-2, w-14)                      27
TOTAL (for six wkts, 50 overs)		       254
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-33 (Jayasuriya), 2-53 (Jayawardene),
 		 3-92 (Sangakkara), 4-133 (Tharanga),
 		 5-216 (Dilshan), 6-216 (Silva).
BOWLING: Zaheer 10-0-49-2 (nb1, w5), Agarkar 8-1-33-1 (w3),
 	 Patel 10-1-46-1, Harbhajan 10-0-53-0 (w3), Ganguly 4-0-22-1 (w1),
	 Tendulkar 8-0-40-1 (nb1, w2).

port OF SPAIN, Trinidad,
Friday.