India clinch series as Lankans salvage pride

Colombo: India's penchant for failing to chase down totals emerged again at Premadasa Stadium on a night of rain-conspired Duckworth-Lewis drama.

Yet, Mahendra Singh Dhoni didn't seem to be too worried after the side was bowled out for their lowest ODI total in Sri Lanka – 103 in attempting to score a revised 214 off 44 overs. After all they had won the series 3-1 before the final match of the Idea Cup series.

For Sri Lanka it was a repeat of last year's series against England, also lost 3-2, but this time Mahela Jayawardene could perhaps smile and reflect a little at how winning and losing the toss is starting to play havoc with his team's plans.

When the rain interfered with the game, India were 70-3. What followed after the resumption defied belief as the batsmen lacked focus and doubts about just how serious they were in trying to win the game.

It was an abject performance as after the resumption the batting can only be described as a disgraceful capitulation: India lost seven wickets in 7.1 overs with only 33 runs scored.

It was poor batting skills and cricket and the way India batted was not the quality expected in such conditions, giving the impression they had lost interest in the proceedings as the shuttle service between the pitch and the pavilion almost ran out of fuel.

Maybe it was a hangover from winning the series 3-1, but whatever the cause, losing the game by 112 runs is far from what should have been expected in these circumstances.

One thought though, is how throughout the limited overs series, Yuvraj Singh has battled to come to terms with Ajantha Mendis and the first bowl bowled on the night by Mendis - first of the 19th over of the truncated innings - saw the end of the left-hander. He had no clue what to expect.

From the moment Virat Kohli was trapped lbw for 31 by seamer Nuwan Kalusekara with the total at 45-2, India's efforts for survival was always a matter of time. The tourists needed batsmen to try and keep the innings together but after the rain and the D/L system came into play, it was as though India had another engagement elsewhere in the city.

In fact Kohli looked nonplussed when he was dismissed lbw – the second of four Kalusekara's wickets of the innings – and what followed was far from accomplished batting performances from the rest of the side.

Suresh Raina, who had batted so skilfully through most of the series, played a horrendous stroke to lose his wicket with a top-edged shot he will try to forget as soon as he can.

Yet the plus for Sri Lanka is how, since the retirement of Russel Arnold, their search for a second all-rounder maybe over.

Thushara Mirando has on occasions this series threatened to fill that gap, but it needed a feisty maiden half-century to crown a successful series.

Mirando's undefeated 54 off 46 balls helped steer Sri Lanka to a total of 227-6 in an invaluable partnership of 94 with Jehan Mubarak, who was 47 not out. The pair rescued the innings from a dodgy133-6 at the end of the 37th over and over the next 59 minutes plundered the runs off only 78 balls.

It also meant that Sri Lanka's often compelling ability to recover from a bad start and the now almost formulaic middle-order slump, gave them breathing space in the last ODI.

The Sri Lanka duo breathed life back into an innings which had lack inspiration and the need to build some sort of competitive total after Mahela Jayawardene won the toss for the first time in the Idea Cup series.

Until the seventh wicket partnership, India's rollercoaster ODI series in Sri Lanka stepped up a gear without the need of winning the toss.

Led by some impressive left-arm spin by the 21-year-old from Hyderabad, he was supported by disciplined fielding and showed quality line and length after being brought into the side as a replacement for Harbhajan Singh.

His drift as well efforts to loop the ball and get it to turn earned him the valuable wickets of the Sri Lanka captain Jayawardene and Chamara Kapugedara which cost him 28 runs in his 10 overs. It was his accuracy and probing bowling that had the Sri Lanka batsmen battling to move out to try and hit him off his length.

Yet until the Mirando-Mubarak partnership, Sri Lanka's efforts to turn the batting jitters around continued through a series of reshuffles.

As part of the, reshuffle, caused by the serious undertow of the form displayed by what has been an ineffectual middle-order with Tillekeratne Dilshan finally axed, the decision to bat Mahela Udawatte at three at least showed the selectors were starting to act more positively.