Rex Clementine
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8th Match: India v Sri Lanka at Colombo, 1 Aug 2001 Rex Clementine |
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India innings:
Sri Lanka innings: Pre-game: |
Mahela Jayawardene and Russel Arnold pushed Sri Lanka's score to 67 before Indian captain Saurav Ganguly trapped Arnold leg before. The bowler had a caught behind appeal turned down earlier and with the next ball he had Arnold leg before playing on the front foot. Arnold's dismissal ended his fourth wicket partnership of 43 runs in 84 deliveries with Jayawardene.
Jayawardene responded by coming down the wicket to Ganguly and smashing the bowler for a four through long on. But any thought of Jayawardene playing a match winning innings like yesterday vanished when the batsman, trying to repeat the effort, missed the ball and was bowled by the Indian captain. Jayawardene made 34 in 78 balls.
Ganguly who failed to make any contribution with the bat made amends by bowling impressively. He bowled nine overs costing only 30 runs and captured the crucial wickets of Arnold and Jayawardene.
The hosts who are already through to the finals went in with the opening duo of Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana. With just six runs on the board India got rid of Kalu for a duck. The batsman worked the ball to the on side and set out for a single immediately but was sent back by his partner. Kalu failed to beat the direct hit from Harbhajan Singh who was fielding at square leg.
Having added just one run to the total Marvan Atapattu departed. Playing on the front foot, the batsman missed a Zaheer Khan delivery and umpire Asoka de Silva ruled him out caught behind by wicketkeeper Sameer Dighe. Atapattu made just one in five balls.
Sri Lanka suffered the biggest blow when they lost their captain Sanath Jayasuriya for 10 off 19 balls with two boundaries. Trying to work a good length delivery on the on side, the left-hander hit the ball in the air and Rahul Dravid fielding at short mid wicket took a superb one handed diving catch. The batsman waited for the third umpire's decision to see whether the fielder had gathered it cleanly. Having seen the television replays the third umpire pressed the red button and the Sri Lankan captain was on his way back to the pavilion.
India could have had a fourth Sri Lankan wicket if VVS Laxman fielding at first slip had taken a straight chance off Ashish Nehra. Jayawardene was on eight at that stage with Sri Lanka on 33.
Singh's 98 came in 143 minutes and 110 balls with six boundaries and a six. This is his second fifty in 19 One Day Internationals. Singh's first came in his second match against Australia at the ICC KnockOut in Nairobi last year.
Dravid and Singh's 102 run alliance for the fifth wicket ended when Romesh Kaluwitharana stumped the Indian vice captain. Dravid came out of the crease and tried to work Jayasuriya but missed the ball to be easily stumped by Kalu. Dravid made 47 in 88 balls with three boundaries.
After the fall of Dravid, young Reetinder Sodhi walked in to join Yuvraj Singh and the pair put on a valuable fifty run partnership for the sixth wicket.
The duo accelerated the run rate, adding 57 runs in 62 balls and 37 minutes. Their alliance ended when Muralitharan accounted for Sodhi who was clean bowled attempting to cut an off break. Sodhi contributed 30 off 37 balls with one boundary.
Sameer Dighe made just three before edging to Kaluwitharana behind the stumps off Dilhara Fernando's first ball in his second spell from the Press Box End.
Harbhajan Singh hit a boundary from the very first ball he faced, but that was all he could make. Murali bowled Harbhajan as he went for a heave through the on-side, leaving the visitors on 213 for eight at that stage.
In the bowling department, Muralitharan picked up two wickets in his allotted 10 overs giving away 29 runs. Dilhara Fernando picked up three wickets for 47 runs. Yesterday's man of the match, Chaminda Vaas picked up two wickets giving away 35 runs.
Six minutes of play was lost due to a brief shower that came down at the Sinhalese Sports Club Grounds with India on 63 for four.
Yuvraj Singh and Dravid pushed the score along sedately with spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Dharmasena bowling. The Indian batsmen were particularly cautious against Muralitharan and scored just five runs off his first five overs.
Both Yuvraj and Dravid did not go for any big shots but picked the gaps and scored off singles and twos. India’s 100 runs came in the 27th over. Yuvraj Singh, who has has not been in the best of form in this series was on 31 and Dravid on 33 at the end of 30 overs.
The Indians were 54 for four at the end of the 15th over with Rahul Dravid on 17 and Yuvraj Singh on nine.
Vaas continued from where he left off yesterday sending back opener Virender Sehwag for a duck off his very first delivery. The batsman shuffled across, played down the wrong line and was plumb in front with India yet to score a run.
Fernando too bowled well and the Indian batsmen struggled to score runs off the Sri Lankan new ball bowlers. In fact the first runs off the bat came only after 31 deliveries when Laxman glided the ball to the third man region off Ferando.
Vaas who sent back Sehwag, also sent back Sourav Ganguly. The Indian captain going for a cut was caught by Kumar Sangakkara fielding at backward point.
Dravid, who came at the fall of the captain played elegantly. The batsman played two exquisite cover drives and looked set for a big score on a good batting track.
As Dravid and Laxman were going about repairing the Indian innings, they lost Laxman giving Fernando his first wicket of the match. The right-hander drove lazily at Fernando and hit the ball in for skipper Jayasuriya to complete an easy catch running to his left.
Hemang Badani followed the procession. He slashed at a wide delivery off Fernando without any footwork and was caught at the second slip by Mahela Jayawardene. India were struggling at 38 for four at that stage.
India has to win this game to keep their chances of qualifying for the final of the tournament alive. Sri Lanka have already booked a berth in the final. New Zealand is the other team taking part in the tournament.
For Sri Lanka, Kumar Sangakkara who missed the last game comes in for Avishka Gunawardene while skipper Saurav Ganguly is back to lead the Indians after he was given a one match suspension for showing deissent. The Indian captain replaces Amay Khurasiya who made a duck in the last game batting at top of the order.
The teams: India team: V Shewag, *SC Ganguly, VVS Laxman, R Dravid, HK Badani, Yuvraj Singh, RS Sodhi, +SS Dighe, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, A Nehra.
Sri Lanka team: *ST Jayasuriya, +RS Kaluwitharana, MS Atapattu, DPMD Jayawardene, RP Arnold, K Sangakkara, HDPK Dharmasena, WPUJC Vaas, ASA Perera, M Muralitharan, CRD Fernando.
© CricInfo
Date-stamped : 01 Aug2001 - 18:28