Jayawardene, Sangakkara take Lanka to series win
Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara hit impressive half-centuries
to guide Sri Lanka to a four-wicket win over India in the triangular
one-day series final here on Wednesday.
Jayawardene top-scored with an unbeaten 71 and skipper Sangakkara
made a brisk 55 as Sri Lanka passed India’s 245 with nine balls to spare
in the day-night match.
The duo also upstaged India’s Suresh Raina, who cracked a gutsy 106
under pressure to prop up the innings.
India were a bowler short when paceman Ashish Nehra left the field
with an injury soon after having opener Upul Tharanga caught by Virat
Kohli at second slip with his third delivery.
Opener Tillakaratne Dilshan (49) and Sangakkara dominated the Indian
attack with aggressive shots, adding 93 for the second wicket.
India’s spinners brought their side back into the game, removing
well-set Dilshan, Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera (27) and Thilina
Kandamby (18) to reduce Sri Lanka to 189-5.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh impressed the most with 2-41, while
left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Yuvraj Singh bagged one wicket
apiece. But Jayawardene kept his cool to steer to his side home, ending
the match with three successive fours off paceman Shanthakumaran
Sreesanth.
India were earlier wobbling at 60-5 following incisive opening spells
from pacemen Nuwan Kulasekara and Chanaka Welegedara, but Raina came to
his team’s rescue with his third one-day hundred.
Man-of-the-match Kulasekara finished with 4-48 and left-arm seamer
Welegedara grabbed 3-53.
Raina steadied the innings with a 106-run stand for the sixth wicket
with Ravindra Jadeja (38). He fell soon after completing his century,
bowled by Welegedara after cracking one six and 10 fours in his 115-ball
knock.
India were undone by a combination of poor shot selection and Sri
Lanka’s disciplined pace bowling, losing wickets at regular intervals.
Opener Virender Sehwag, who struck 42, kept playing shots despite the
fall of wickets from the other end.
His flourish did not last long though as he became Kulasekara’s third
victim.
He was caught behind after hitting seven fours in his 27-ball cameo.
He became the sixth Indian to complete 7,000 one-day runs after Sachin
Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin and Yuvraj.
The Indian batting woes began with the match’s third delivery when
Gautam Gambhir was bowled by Kulasekara.
Welegedara had in-form Kohli caught behind for two and then Yuvraj
was caught at first slip by Samaraweera in successive overs to send
India reeling at 16-3 in four overs.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni briefly defied the Sri Lankan attack
when he shared a 31-run stand for the fourth wicket with Sehwag before
being caught behind off Kulasekara. DHAKA, AFP
SCORECARD INDIAV. Sehwag c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 42
G. Gambhir b Kulasekara 00
V. Kohli c Sangakkara b Welegedara 02
Yuvraj Singh c Samaraweera b Welegedara. 00
MS Dhoni c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 14
S. Raina b Welegedara 106
R. Jadeja lbw b Dilshan 38
Harbhajan Singh lbw b Randiv 11
Zaheer Khan c Samaraweera b Kulasekara 16
A. Nehra not out 02
S. Sreesanth b Perera 04
EXTRAS (lb4, w6) 10
TOTAL (for all out; 48.2 overs) 245
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1, 2-4, 3-16, 4-47, 5-60, 6-166, 7-213, 8-233, 9-237,
10-245 .
BOWLING: Kulasekara 10-0-48-4 (w1), Welegedara 10-1-53-3, Thushara 6-1-26-0 (w2),
Randiv 9-0-47-1 (w1), Perera 8.2-0-49-1 (w1), Dilshan 5-0-18-1 (w1).
SRI LANKA
U. Tharanga c Kohli b Nehra 00
T. Dilshan c Dhoni b Yuvraj 49
K. Sangakkara c Sehwag b Harbhajan 55
M. Jayawardene not out 71
T. Samaraweera b Jadeja 27
T. Kandamby lbw b Harbhajan 18
S. Randiv run out 17
T. Perera not out 06
EXTRAS (lb1, nb1, w4) 06
TOTAL (for six wickets; 48.3 overs) 249
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0, 2-93, 3-109, 4-157, 5-189, 6-228.
BOWLING: Nehra 1.2-0-2-1 (nb1), Sreesanth 9.3-0-72-0, Kohli 1.4-0-12-0,
Zaheer 10-0-51-0 (w2), Harbhajan 10-0-41-2 (w2), Yuvraj 9-0-41-1, Jadeja 7-0-29-1. |
