Maharoof bowls Sri Lanka to a seven wicket win

Farveez Maharoof produced a dream spell to claim a five wicket haul including a superb hat-trick as Sri Lanka defeated India by seven wickets in their Asia Cup limited overs cricket tournament match worked off under lights at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium yesterday.

India were bowled out for a below par 209 in this inconsequential league match of the tournament and Sri Lanka reached the target scoring 211 for 3 in 37.3 overs. The match of course was a dress-rehearsal for the final as both teams will return back to face each other in the finals of the tournament on Thursday. Maharoof captured his hat-trick in the 39th and during his penultimate over of the innings to send a shock wave through the Indian batting line-up.

After been well placed at 189 for 4, India suddenly found themselves in a spot of trouble as they slumped to 189 for 8. This triple blow left India in deep trouble and prevented them from posting a big score. They were eventually skittled out in the 43rd over.

It looked as if India had built up a solid platform for acceleration in the last few overs after the top order had made some good contributions. However Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni ran himself out after playing a busy innings of 41 from just 53 balls.

Immediately after Dhoni’s departure, Ravindra Jadeja went without scoring a run, leaving India in a further spot of bother. Praveen Kumar also did not last long as he was bowled by Maharoof in the very first ball. Maharoof claimed both wickets in consecutive deliveries and then, removed Zaheer Khan in the next ball to complete his hat-trick.

Sri Lanka in reply got off to another flying start through their openers Tillekeratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga. But it was skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena who carried them through towards the victory target with a third wicket stand of 104 runs from 103 deliveries. Jayawardena went on to add the finishing touches while completing his 54th one day international half century with an unbeaten 53 which was studded with one six and five boundaries. Sangakkara was dismissed for a top score of 73 from 82 balls with ten boundaries.

Earlier, despite losing four wickets on 110, Rohit Sharma and Dhoni came to the rescue of India as they put on a useful 79-run partnership to take India close to the two hundred run mark.

Rohit Sharma remained as India’s only saving grace as he made a fluent 69 and was also the last man out for his side.

Put into bat first the openers Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Karthik gave India a solid start as they helped their team cross the fifty run mark in the 10th over of the innings.

Karthik who was playing in the absence of Virender Sehwag, was more fluent of the two. Gautam Gambhir became the first batsman to depart as he was dismissed for 23 off Angelo Mathews.

After playing a solid knock of 40 off 43 balls, Dinesh Karthik became the first victim of left-arm spinner Rangana Herath. Karthik played really well for his 40 and put on a 58-run opening stand with Gautam Gambhir.

India rested Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh for this match while Virender Sehwag is out of the Cup with an injury.

Sri Lanka decided to rest Muttiah Muralitharan, Thilan Samaraweera, Nuwan Kulasekara and Lasith Malinga.

SCORECARD
		INDIA:
G. Gambhir c Randiv b Mathews		23
D. Karthik c Sangakkara b Herath	40
V. Kohli c Sangakkara b Maharoof	10
R. Sharma run out			69
S. Raina lbw b Herath			18
M. Dhoni run out			41
R. Jadeja lbw b Maharoof		 0
P. Kumar b Maharoof			 0
Zaheer Khan c Sangakkara b Maharoof	 0
A. Dinda b Maharoof			 2
P. Ojha not out				 0
Extras: (lb3, w3)			 6
TOTAL (all out, 42.3 overs)		209
Fall of wickets: 1-58 (Gambhir), 2-75 (Kohli, 3-77 (Karthik), 4-110 (Raina), 
5-189 (Dhoni), 6-189 (Jadeja), 7-189 (Kumar), 8-189 (Zaheer), 9-195 (Dinda), 10-209 (Sharma).
Bowling: Welegedara 7.3-0-42-0, Maharoof 10-1-42-5 (w1), Mathews 6-0-37-1, 
Herath 7-0-31-2, Randiv 9-1-40-0 (w2), Kandamby 3-0-14-0.

SRI LANKA:
U. Tharanga c Dhoni b Zaheer		38
T. Dilshan c Jadeja b Zaheer		24
K. Sangakkara c Zaheer b Kumar		73
M. Jayawardene not out			53
T. Kandamby not out			 7
Extras: (b2, lb11, w3)			16
TOTAL (for three wickets, 37.3 overs)	211
Did not bat: Chamara Kapugedara, Angelo Mathews, Farveez Maharoof, Chanaka Welegedara, 
Rangana Herath, Suraj Randiv.
Fall of wickets: 1-38 (Dilshan), 2-80 (Tharanga), 3-184 (Sangakkara).
Bowling: Kumar 8-2-30-1, Zaheer 7-1-42-2 (w2), Dinda 5-1-39-0, Ojha 10-0-49-0 (w1), 
Jadeja 6.3-0-29-0, Sharma 1-0-9-0.