Sehwag powers India to victory
Chinthana Wasala reporting from Dambulla
A magnificent knock of 99 runs under pressure by Virender Sehvag
powered India for their first win in the Micromax Cup tri-nation cricket
tournament, defeating the hosts Sri Lanka by six wickets in the third
match played at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium yesterday.
Sehvag missed out his 13th ODI century because of a no ball in the
last delivery of the match. The victory came with 93 balls to spare and
India also secured a bonus point, pushing Sri Lanka to the bottom of the
points table.
Sri Lanka took a different approach to yesterday’s game, dropping
both Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath. Capitalizing in the late seam
and swing, paceman Dilhara Fernando and right arm spinner Suraj Randiv
were brought in.
Both changes worked for them as Randiv and Dilhara gave their best
for the team.
The Indian top order was shattered when the Lankan pacemen struck,
sending three of them within three runs.
Kulasekera picked up the catch of Dinesh Karthik at third man off a
short one delivered by Angelo Mathews.
Then it was Dilhara Fernando’s turn.
He did not let Virat Kohli a single run, Kohli was lbw in the third
delivery he faced. Once again Mathews struck, picking up the wicket of
Rohit Sharma, lbw and Sharma faced only two bowls.
The next man, Suresh Raina and Virender Sehvag put up an effort to
rebuild their innings, hitting few smashing boundaries, accelerating the
run rate.
In Fernando’s sixth over, the man who fought responsibly, Virender
Sehvag reached his half century, the first of the match. But in the same
over, Raina was caught at deep square leg, near the boundary.
But thereafter the Indian batsmen did not let any room for errors.
Sehvag continued his form and smashed some terrific drives, cuts and
pulls with boundaries and two massive sixes, one over the mid wicket
boundary and the other over the deep square leg with a typical Sehvag
shot.
Skipper MS Dhoni was not out at 23.
Earlier, after winning the toss, Sri Lanka elected to bat and Suraj
Randiv’s fighting knock of 43 at the end of the batting line-up and
Dilshan’s knock were the only highlights of their total of 170, six of
their batsmen failing to reach double figures.
Sri Lanka had the worst start possible. Praveen Kumar struck in the
first delivery of the match, a perfect one was delivered, knocked out
the off stump and Upul Tharanga went out for a duck.
Sri Lanka suffered three blows as three of their most senior batsmen
were sent back to the pavilion within a short period of time.
Skipper Sangakkara departed in the fourth over and Jayawardena in the
seventh, after scoring two and four runs respectively.
Sangakkara was caught by Pragyan Ojah off the bowling of Ashish Nehra
and Jayawardena was lbw, Praveen Kumar bagged his second wicket.
Samaraweera who came as the number five batsman, also was among the
batsmen who went out without reaching the two digit mark.
He was caught at short mid wicket by Jadeja in Ishanth Sharma’s
second over.
After Samaraweera departed in the 13th over, Dilshan who was on 27,
teamed up with the new batsman Angelo Mathews and put up a 38 run
partnership which came in 54 deliveries.
Then Dilshan went for a big hit which he tried to put over the mid
wicket, landed safely on the hands of Rohit Sharma, giving Ojha his
first wicket of the match.
Dilshan scored a well hit 45 which included five boundaries. Scores
were 5 for 82 in the 22nd over.
Just after that, the rain interrupted the tournament for the first
time but the delay did not last long.
The rain could not delay another blow for Sri Lankans.
In the very next over, Angelo Mathews was lbw in Ravindra Jadeja’s
first over in the match. Mathews departed for 15.
Sri Lanka’s 100 runs came in the 30th over. Kapugedera also could not
make a big impression and was bowled out by Jadeja for 10.
Towards the end of the innings, Suraj Randiv and Nuwan Kulasekera
tried to accelerate the run rate and added some valuable runs but
Kulasekera was out for 22 followed by Malinga who scored five.
Suraj Randiv who added valuable 43 runs, was eventually caught at
extra cover by Raina with Ojha claiming his third wicket.
SRI LANKA
U. Tharanga b Kumar 0
T. Dilshan c R. Sharma b Ojha 45
K. Sangakkara c Ojha b Nehra 2
M. Jayawardene lbw b Kumar 4
T. Samaraweera c Jadeja b Ishant 7
A. Mathews lbw b Jadeja 15
C. Kapugedera b Jadeja 10
S. Randiv c Raina b Ojha 43
N. Kulasekara c Dhoni b Ishant 22
L. Malinga st Dhoni b Ojha 5
D. Fernando not out 6
Extras (b1, lb3, w7) 11
TOTAL (all out; 46.1 overs) 170
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Tharanga), 2-14 (Sangakkara), 3-23 (Jayawardene), 4-44 (Samaraweera),
5-82 (Dilshan), 6-83 (Mathews), 7-103 (Kapugedera), 8-142 (Kulasekara), 9-158 (Malinga), 10-170 (Randiv).
Bowling: Kumar 8-2-20-2 (w1), Nehra 9-0-39-1 (w2), Ishant 9-1-32-2 (w1), Ojha 9.1-0-36-3 (w2), Jadeja 10-2-34-2 (w1), Sehwag 1-0-5-0.
India
D. Karthik c Kulasekara b Mathews 10
V. Sehwag not out 99
V. Kohli c Sangakkara b Fernando 0
R. Sharma lbw b Mathews 0
S. Raina c Tharanga b Fernando 21
MS Dhoni not out 23
EXTRAS (b5, lb6, nb6, w1) 18
TOTAL (for four wickets; 34.3 overs) 171
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-30 (Karthik), 2-31 (Kohli), 3-32 (R. Sharma), 4-91 (Raina).
BOWLING: Malinga 7-0-34-0 (nb2), Kulasekara 5-0-23-0 (w1), Mathews 7-1-32-2 (nb1), Fernando 8-0-33-2 (nb2), Randiv 7.3-0-38-0 (nb1). |
