Lankans lord over listless India
Tillakaratne Dilshan (123) beat the Indian bowling to pulp at the Orange city and received tremendous support from the listless Indian bowling backed by some sorry ground fielding to help Sri Lanka sneak home by three wickets and thereby level the five-match one-day series 1-1 at the VCA Stadium, Jamtha here on Friday night despite India posting a formidable 301 for 7 riding on skipper M.S. Dhoni’s 107.
Chasing a 300-plus score for the second time in three days, Dilshan and Upul Tharanga started in a blistering fashion with the listless Indian bowling bleeding runs at an alarming rate. The leading culprits were Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra who went for 20 runs each in their first two overs. But Dhoni’s persistence with Bhajji paid off when he got rid of Tharanga for 37, caught by Virender Sehwag at first slip. Skipper Kumar Sangakkara was the next to go, run-out for 21 but that did not deter Dilshan to score his second successive century in the series. Dilshan’s deadly knock had two sixes and 12 boundaries in it. Just when it looked like Dilshan will run away with the game, Nehra produced a beauty that dislodged Dilshan’s citadel after a 113-ball blinder.
The game titled in the hosts’ favour when Zaheer Khan dismissed Mahela (39) and then saw the back of Thilan Kandamby (27) to a well-judged catch by Virat Kohli at mid-on. Zaheer then produced a peach of a delivery to dismiss Chamara Kapugedera for 2 to bring the crowd back on its feet. A direct throw by Bhajji from mid-off saw the end of Suraj Randiv (5) but Angelo Mathews (37 n.o) cameo took Sri Lanka to victory with five balls to spare.
Earlier, Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat, a move that backfired when Virender Sehwag’s (4) dismissal reduced the hosts to 4 for 1. Gautam Gambhir (2) too left early, courtesy a run-out with India at 19 for 2. Sachin Tendulkar took nine balls to open his account but soon found his timing right with a flick towards the fine leg and a pull to mid-wicket that brought the sombre crowd on its feet. The little master Sachin followed it up with a cut over cover-point boundary to keep the crowd in raptures.
Sachin (43) added 62 for the third wicket with new man Virat Kohli, before a Mendis googly had him stumped for the 11th time in one-dayers. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli was looking in good touch. A flick towards fine-leg, a gorgeous cover-drive and picture perfect on-drive saw the 21-year-old in full flow.
The introduction of debutant Suraj into the attack immediately paid dividends as the 24-year-old got rid of danger man Kohli (54), trapping him leg-before to reduce India to 132 for 4. The fall of Kohli brought Dhoni and Suresh Raina into the middle. The duo survived some anxious moments in the middle before stitching an impressive
They both added 126 for the fifth wicket before Raina (68) holed up to Randiv at mid-wicket off Angelo Mathews.
Dhoni began his innings with his inimitable jabs; taps and those bottom-hand twirls to keep the scoreboard ticking. The right-hander did lead a charmed life when a catch followed by a stumping (both by Sangakkara) saw him reach to his 50 and was dropped by Mendis on 96 at covers, reached his sixth ODI century. But the hosts still ended on the losing side, courtesy their ground fielding and poor bowling which shows no signs of any improvement.
