Team India floored Sri Lanka in the third ODI by 147 runs at Colombo to win series 3-0. India spinner Pragyan Ojha took four wickets - Muralitharan (0), Sangakkara (83), Kapugedera (2) and Maharoof (22) to leave Lanka depleted.Sri Lanka was not left with much of options to turn the tables. Chasing a mammoth 364-run target, Sri Lanka's fightback was not very impressive as they lost nine wickets with less than 200 runs on the board.
At the commencement of the match, Lanka pacer Dilhara Fernando, who was brought into the side in place of Thilan Thushara, justified his selection as he sent Indian batsmen Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir back in quick succession.Lady Luck seems to be teasing Sachin Tendulkar as the master batsman perished to another tentative decision in the series. Electing to bat first, Tendulkar made 7 runs when a Dilhara Fernando-delivery, going towards the leg side, struck him low on his pads. In the first two ODIs as well, Sachin fell victim to poor umpiring judgments.However, Gambhir (10) was unfortunate to be run out as a shot by Virender Sehwag caressed the bowlers' fingers before crashing into the stumps at the non-striker's end. In-form Yuvraj Singh, who hit fifty in second ODI, joined Sehwag to pump up the score. With boundaries all over the ground and some superb shots, Yuvraj (117) raised his 11th century of his career while Sehwag followed the momentum and blasted 75-ball hundred. Both the players complimented each other well to leave the hosts gasping.Lanka's worries were only increased when Fernando's superb backward diving went in vain and Jayasuriya's late reaction to an easy catch gave two invaluable chances to Sehwag to continue his impressive knock.A sense of reprieve enveloped the bowling side when they ended the efficient partnership of centurions Yuvraj Singh (117) and Virender Sehwag (116). But both the batsmen already had done enough damage to leave the hosts beleaguered. Veteran spinner Muttiah Muralitharan got the breakthough when he bagged his second victim of the series in form of Yuvraj to equal Wasim Akram's record of 502 ODI wickets. Suresh Raina then joined his skipper MS Dhoni to add some more runs to the board when India looked strong at 265/4.The fifth wicket fell for the visitor's in the form of Raina (9) when wicket-keeper Sangakkara removed the left-hander's bails. All-rounder Yusuf Pathan then joined skipper MS dhoni at the crease.By the end of the innings, all-rounder Pathan whisked a 35-ball fifty to add on to Lanka's worries and push the total to 363/5.
With this win, India have created history by winning back-to-back ODI series. India broke the 23-year long jinx to clinch their first ODI series victory in Sri Lanka when they last toured the island country in August.http://cricket.ndtv.com/cricket/ndtvcricket/storypage/ndtv/id/spoen20090082347/story03022009_140300.html
No comments:
Post a Comment