India beat Sri Lanka to lead series 2-1
Posted on Aug 24, 2008 at 14:18 | Updated Aug 25, 2008 at 11:45
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Colombo: As Indian tricolours were hoisted aloft and the band played on, as in the final hours of the Titanic, Sri Lanka slowly sank to defeat on a dew soaked turf at Premadasa Stadium here.
And only a defiant and gallant innings from their captain Mahela Jayawardene on Sunday prevented a second rout of the side in this Idea Cup series as Sri Lanka lost by 33 runs. It also meant India taking a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
All this underlined a quality Indian performance as Sri Lanka were largely outplayed when Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar hit the right length and dismantled the top-order with brutal efficiency to leave the home side totally rattled.
With man of the match Mahendra Singh Dhoni helping to unravel the Ajantha Mendis mystery during an impressive innings of 76, India managed to score an edgy 237-9 to which Sri Lanka, a decidedly wobbly 94-7 at one stage, were bowled out for 204 in 49 overs.
It was Zaheer again, with support from Praveen Kumar, who left Sri Lanka facing the prospect of an early finish to their innings but for the Jayawardene batting heroics that included him needing a runner in the latter stages of his knock of 94.
At 59-6 in the 18th over, when Tillekeratne Dilshan fell followed by Chaminda Vaas, there was really no way back into the game for Sri Lanka unless they could manufacture a genuine miracle. They almost did, but India had too much in reserve to win the game with six balls remaining.
By 8:15 and the innings in ruins, those sucked into forking out a small fortune for blackmarket tickets were no doubt regretting their purchase at an almost 500 percent increase on the price of the cheapest ticket.
At one stage, Zaheer had figures of two for 18 which followed his mid-week Dambulla match-winning efforts while Harbhajan Singh helped continue the pressure that had Sri Lanka's batsmen struggling for survival.
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Total Comments: 24
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Posted By Santosh Bhushan
Dhoni is a great player and that is why he is Khel Ratna of India. Congratulation to the indian team
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Posted By Santosh Bhushan
Indian pacers attack led by Zaheer Khan has to be congratulated for the magnificent show. Dhoni as usual is a
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Posted By vivian
I cant understand in what basis and talent Rohit Sharma is playing for India? is there any blood relation with
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Posted By Santosh
would you like ganguly to play there and get a DUCK for us.
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Posted By S.Raghavan
Even a doubtful run-out decision was not referred to the third umpire by umpire Billy Doctrove. That was a given
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