Tri-series Srilanka v India: Final Review
Srilanka stood firm against an unorthodox Indian team to clinch the tri series cup final at Dam bulla on Saturday. A great batting track, poor umpiring decisions and rough cricket from India helped Kumar Sangakkara’s men get the trophy home.
Winning the toss and choosing to bat first on a perfect batting pitch worked well for the hosts, while the game went great for them in a flurry, since the start. Both their opening batsmen frustrated Indian bowlers equally, thrashing ball to every corner of the ground and making them pay for their poor deliveries.
Tillakaratne Dilshan took charge early on in the innings and hammered runs to every single bowler, with special focus on http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ishant-Sharma-c64566. Majority of his shots to these two went straight down the ground, well timed and through the line of ball. He raised Srilanka’s total at around seven an over to 74 after 12 overs without any loss. With him on the crease, runs continued to come by with ease as overs passed. He stroked Nehra back to back boundaries down the leg side to rise up his half century in the 16th over. Each of India’s specialist bowlers was put in trouble by Dilshan’s tremendous batting effort.
Mahela Jayawardene, who got a leg before wicket shout and was lucky to have escaped it, made India pay by supporting his partner substantially, smashing five sweetly placed boundaries in his knock of 39 before felling to Sharma in the 19th over. Both shared a solid partnership of 121 runs. Jayawardene, the former Srilankan skipper, also completed his 9000 ODI runs in this match and became only the second Srilankan to have reached this landmark after Arvinda de Silva and the legendary Sanath Jayasuria.
After his dismissal, Upal Tharanga also couldn’t last for long and his wicket fell in the very next over. The momentum for Srilanka was then led by its captain Sangakkara and Dilshan who put on a valuable stand of 85 runs with the bat. Dilshan kept on punishing the opposition and reached his 9th ODI century in style while Sangakkara also posted his innings nicely, starting off at a fair pace and driving deliveries constantly for runs in the latter half of the innings. Despite Dilshan’s dismissal, he did not let his confidence go away and accelerated further with elegant drives towards the offside region. Chamara Silva joined the party and chipped in quick 29 runs, to aid Srilanka reach a match winning total of 299 for the loss of 8 wickets.
Indian bowlers couldn’t click the way they did in their last game against the Kiwis and rather conceded too many runs. Sharma and Munaf Patel got a couple of wickets each with Kumar, Nehra and Yuvraj Singh managing only one each. As many as 24 extras were granted to Srilanka during their batting innings. Misery continued for the controversial http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virender-Sehwag-c95429, who didn’t seem to let his side down at first and hit six glorious boundaries during the power play, keeping India’s hopes alive but it was all of a sudden when he found himself caught in a terrible mix up with Yuvraj, only to have found himself going back to the hut with a direct hit by Kapugedera.
Once Sehwag left the center, game was all over for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750. Wickets went trembling for them in quick successions with no one able to stand firm against the splendid bowling display of Perera and young Suraj Randiv. Although, Dhoni played with great enthusiasm for his 67 runs but that too proved little for his weak side to overpower the champions.
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