Kapugedera, Mahela, Chamara blast Indian attack

Chris DHAMBARAGE from pakistan

Defending champions Sri Lanka batted themselves into a commanding position while Amassing a huge 308 for 8 in their six nation Asia Cup limited overs tournament Super Four match against India worked off under lights at the National Stadium in Karachi yesterday.

The Lankans who have already booked a place in the July 6 final rallied around through three half centuries from skipper Mahela Jayawardena, Chamara Kapugedera and Chamara Silva as they crossed the three hundred run mark for the fourth occasion in the competition.

Jayawardena laid the platform for another big score while completing his 46th one day international half century after opener Sanath Jayasuriya had departed early in the 12th over of the innings. Jayawardena justified his decision to bat first on a flat track by smashing a fluent fifty from 62 deliveries with the help of four boundaries.

This was after dashing opener Sanath Jayasuriya had plundered 43 runs from just 37 balls inclusive of three boundaries. Jayasuriya launched a severe attack on the Indian bowlers while stroking three successive boundaries from one of Irfan Pathan’s overs.

The only disappointment was the failure of wicket keeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara who struggled for runs before falling in the fourth over and Tillekeratne Dilshan who is yet to make an impact in this tournament. However skipper Jayawardena joined Jayasuriya and the pair repaired the early damage by adding 55 runs for the second wicket from just 48 deliveries.

The best batting of course came when Chamara Kapugedera joined Jayawardena in a third wicket stand of 78 runs from 89 balls. Kapugedera in fact was well set to complete his maiden one hundred having batted quite confidently for his top score of 75 which included one six and seven boundaries.

Chamara Silva then provided the finishing touches with a run a ball half century having hoisted one six and struck two boundaries as Sri Lanka collected 74 runs from the last ten overs of the innings. In addition Kaushalya Weeraratne and Thilina Thushara also rose to the occasion with some useful contributions during the latter stages.

Both turned out to be quite effective with Weeraratne stroking three boundaries and Thushara hoisting one six and two boundaries for his 14 ball 23. The match was also quite a significant one because this was the 100th clash between the two teams.

Sri Lanka rested ace pacamen Chaminda Vaas and wrist spinner Ajantha Mendis and brought in Dilhara Fernando and Kaushalya Weeraratne. India need to win this match to qualify into the final.

KARACHI, Thursday.

SCORECARD

SRI LANKA

S. Jayasuriya c Dhoni b Sharma	43
K. Sangakkara c Dhoni b Sharma	 7
M. Jayawardene c Gambhir b Ojha	50
C. Kapugedera lbw b Kumar	75
C. Silva run out		50
T. Dilshan c Singh b Pathan	15
K. Weeraratne c Gambhir b Singh	23
T. Thushara run out		23
N. Kulasekera not out		 6
M. Muralitharan not out		 1
EXTRAS: (b1, lb11, w3)		15
TOTAL: (for eight wkts)		308
DID NOT BAT: D. Fernando
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16 (Sangakkara), 2-71 (Jayasuriya), 3-149 (Jayawardene), 
4-217 (Kapugedera), 5-245 (Dilshan), 6-263 (Silva), 7-287 (Weeraratne), 8-307 (Thushara).
BOWLING: Singh 10-1-44-1, Sharma 10-0-55-2 (1w), Pathan 10-0-80-1, 
Kumar 6-0-36-1 (1w), Ojha 10-0-55-1, Sehwag 3-0-22-0 (1w), Rohit 1-0-4-0.