Triangular series glory for Sri Lanka

Posted by rukshanshamilk Wednesday, January 13, 2010



A clinical all-round performance helped Sri Lanka defeat India by four wickets in the final of the triangular one-day series in Dhaka.

A strong effort with the ball from Nuwan Kulasekara and Chanaka Welegedara had left India reeling at 60 for five at one stage, but they recovered well through battling knocks from Suresh Raina (106), Virender Sehwag (42) and Ravindra Jadeja (38) to finish 245 all out.

Sri Lanka lost an early wicket, but Kumar Sangakkara (55) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (49) kick-started the recovery while Mahela Jayawardene hit an unbeaten 71 as they eased to victory inside 49 overs.

Sangakkara won his fifth toss in a row and new-ball bowlers Kulasekara and Welegedara gave Sri Lanka the perfect start by snaring quick wickets and destroying India's batting line-up.

Kulasekara removed Gautam Gambhir for a second-ball duck in his first over in bizarre fashion, a delivery pitched just outside leg stump flicking a protruding edge of the left-hander's thigh pad and cannoning into the stumps.

Welegedara claimed wickets in successive overs although both Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh - and Mahendra Singh Dhoni later - did themselves little credit with their poor shot selection.

Sehwag batted on serenely during the carnage, hammering Kulasekara for three boundaries in four deliveries early in his innings and easily finding the ropes thereafter.

He fell just short of the half-century, attempting to guide a rising delivery from Kulasekara to third man, but only steering straight to Sangakkara.

Raina and Jadeja rebuilt slowly, accumulating runs through excellent singles and twos rather than boundaries.

Raina eventually opened up as he closed in on his half-century and reached the mark with consecutive boundaries off Thissara Perera.

Sri Lanka, however, regrouped during the second drinks interval and Tillakaratne Dilshan broke the stand by trapping Jadeja in front.

And although Raina went on to reach only his third ODI century, India were bowled out inside their full quota of overs.

Sri Lanka lost Upul Tharanga at the start of their chase, the batsman slashing at a delivery from Ashish Nehra, but only edging to Kohli at second slip.

But India's chances suffered a blow when Nehra pulled up with a groin injury in the middle of his second over and made his way off the field.

Dilshan and Sangakkara took up the chase and the two steered Sri Lanka into a dominant position with a 93-run stand for the second wicket almost at a run-a-ball.

India clawed their way back through a fine performance from their spinners, Yuvraj opening the door with the wicket of Dilshan with the first delivery he sent down.

Sangakkara, who reached his 55th ODI half-century, was then snared by Harbhajan Singh, the bowler finally securing the Sri Lanka captain's wicket after troubling him considerably with vicious spin.

A stand between Thilan Samaraweera and Jayawardene was then broken by Jadeja, the left-arm spinner extracting Samaraweera, while Thilina Kandamy was trapped in front by Harbhajan in his final over as Sri Lanka showed familiar frailties.

Sri Lanka lost two more wickets making for a tight finish, but Jayawardene kept a cool head to see his team across the line.

0 comments

Post a Comment

Cricket Schedule

categories

Photo Gallery

Video Post

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Local Time & Date

Live Cricket Score

Join me on Twitter

free counters