Sri Lanka Beat India By 112 Runs: A Consolation Victory
article written by paramjeet.
Result Sri Lanka won the fifth and the last match of the 5 one-day match series by a huge margin of 112 runs. Its bowlers did a great job and saved the side from a humiliating series loss. Though they had already lost the series to Indians by 3-1 they were playing for the pride. Some Lankan batsmen and bowlers performed well and scored a consolation victory over the Indians.
Lanka Earlier, Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat. Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasurya once again disappointed his captain and edged a ball from Zaheer to the third man. He scored only one run.Malinda Warnapura(30) and Mahela Udawatte(43) added 77 runs for the second wicket. When everything was going Lanka’s way comeback man Irfan Pathan struck twice and sent both the established batmen back. Kumar Sangakkara’s poor form continued even in this match as he edged a RP Singh’s wide ball to Gautam Gambhir at slips. He had made only one run. Pragyan Ojha took two Lankan wickets. He sent back Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene(12) when he was caught by Yuvraj Singh at Short cover. His second victim was hamara Kapugedera who could score only 26 runs. But partnership between lower order batsmen Thilan Thushara(54) and Jehan Mubarak(47) set the stage for Lankans .Their 94 run partnership brought the Lankan back into match as the had put a fightable score on the board.
India In response to the victory target of 228 runs Indian operners too could not give a good start to their side. Gambhir edged Kulasekara’s outside going delivery and was caught by wicketkeeper. In his next over Kulasekara took wickets of Virat Kohli when he had made 31 runs. His next victim was Suresh Raina. He departed for 10 runs. Rest of the Indian batsmen could not reach even the double figure. When India was comfortably placed at 70 for 3 from 15 overs rain interrupted the match. Because of rains India was given a revised victory target of 216 from 44 overs.When play resumed Kulasekara struck once again and sent Rohit Sharma back just for 3 runs. Non of the other batsmen could stay for a long and all the Indian team got out for 103 from 26.3 overs. Mendis took three wickets while Dilhara Fernando took two. Dhoni was adjudged man of the series.
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