India v Sri Lanka | Tri-Series | 5th Match | Harare | 5/6/2010

[Sir john]

All-round effort leads India to 268

Sometimes desperate situations force one to make the right decisions. India made two positive shows of intent: Yusuf Pathan was promoted to No. 4 and the batting Powerplay was taken in the 18th over. Sometimes the best efforts may not be enough. Sri Lanka were splendid today; they hustled on the field, they made the right bowling changes, and the spinners kept hauling them back when India threatened to break free. Sometimes the catalyst comes from the least expected quarter; R Ashwin pulled off a gem in the end overs to push India from 204 for 6 in 41.1 overs to a respectable total. If India are to get the bonus point they have to restrict Sri Lanka to 214.

Suresh Raina said at the toss that he was looking to reach around 270-280 and bowl out Sri Lanka cheaply to earn the bonus point that India so desperately needed to stay afloat in the competition. His team made a steady start, reaching 46 for 2 in 10 overs, before they shifted gears gradually. They collected 27 runs in the bowling Powerplay and hit 39 runs in the final one, to reach 129 for 3 by the half-way mark but things threatened to unravel until Ashwin took over.

Ashwin started slowly, reaching 11 from 20 deliveries, before shifting gears. He pinged wide long-on for a six and a four against Ajantha Mendis in the 47th over and lifted Nuwan Kulasekara for successive fours in the 48th, with a paddle-swept boundary being the highlight. He constantly moved around the crease and utilised the pace of the ball to work the angles. However, Sri Lanka struck in the last couple of overs, via Thilan Thushara, to prevent India from reaching a big score. It was the pattern of the day - India kept threatening to get ahead, and Sri Lanka kept pulling them back.

Three instances stood out for Sri Lanka's tenacity: the seamers bowled two maiden overs in the first six overs, despite India's positive intent; Ajantha Mendis bowled two overs that yielded just six runs in the batting Powerplay; and Suraj Randiv removed both Yusuf and Rohit Sharma to pull India back from a comfortable situation. Even the third spinner Jeevan Mendis bowled a tight spell in the middle as India, who were at 125 for 2 in 23.5 overs struggled to 187 for 5 in 37.1 overs. Only 52 runs came in this crucial period of 13 overs and importantly three big wickets of Yusuf, Kohli and Rohit went down.

It was Randiv who did all the damage. He beat Yusuf in flight and lured him to hole out to long-on and did Rohit with a big-spinning off break that breached the defences. In between, Kohli had lifted Thushara straight to long-off. And when Suresh Raina fell to a stunning catch - Chamara Kapugedera flung himself to his left at short extra cover- off Tillakaratne Dilshan's bowling, India were wobbling at 204 for 6 but were saved by Ashwin's cameo.

India showed more intent today than they have done previously in this tournament. It was in the second Powerplay that they really went after the bowling and it was Yusuf who made the first move. He picked three fours - edged an attempted heave, smashed a full toss over covers and pulled a long hop - in the 19th over bowled by Thilan Thushara and smashed a slower one from Nuwan Kulasekara over long-off.

Virat Kohli, who crafted another responsible innings, joined in the attack and picked two boundaries against Mendis in the 20th over that included the best shot of the day: he stepped forward, got outside the line of the carrom ball on middle stump line and drove inside-out through extra cover. For the main part, as he has done previously in this tournament, he opted for risk-free cricket and worked the angles for singles and twos.

Though Sri Lanka ended on a bad note, giving away too many runs to Ashwin, they had started in the right manner. Kulasekara punctuated his nagging inswingers with the ones that straightened and had the batsmen on a leash. Naman Ojha couldn't cope long and was trapped in front by a big inswinger. Dinesh Karthik started off cautiously but soon decided that he wanted to tackle Kulasekara mainly off the back foot and proceeded to unfurl several quality shots through covers. However, he fell checking his attempted on-the-up drive straight back to the bowler Thushara. From then on, a cat and mouse game ensued and it made for a fascinating watching experience.

Sriram Veera is a staff writer at Cricinfo
RSS Feeds: Sriram Veera

As of now, INDIA need to restrict Sri Lanka to 214 to get a bonus point. But even if they win without a bonus point, they stay alive, and can hope for either Sri Lanka to lose to Zimbabwe or for rain to make that match impossible.

 

[DonJee]

what a worthless match, I didn't even know if there was an ODI today....

Hope India lose anyway!!

 

[Sir john]

what a worthless match, I didn't even know if there was an ODI today....

Hope India lose anyway!!

come out from your world,world is big.

 

[Gunner786]

lol at cricinfo

14.5


Ashwin to Tharanga, OUT, against the run of play, edges this, just hangs his bat in a nothing ****, and the fullish delivery turns away taking the edge low towards slip where Kohli takes a smart catch


WU Tharanga c Kohli b Ashwin 27 (38b 4x4 1x6) SR: 71.05

 

[Pakistan_Zindabaad]

Chandimal is SL's :umarakmal

 

[AZ]

except he bats like

 

[Sir john]

hope lankans win this match

 

[adnan yasin]

srilanka in a gr8 position to win this match ..

 

[Cover Drive]

The youngster reached his madien century at superb strike rate of 97

 

[pakmania]

Good 100 from Chandimal,SL certainly have brought in a lot of youngsters,hard to recognise them nowadays !

 

[Poison]

India fail lol

 

[Khabri420]

Well played India

 

[WithLoveFromCanada]

They'll be grilled man as plans for victoria park was set up before the match indicating not much motivation to win the match and stay in tournament - LOLdia!

 

[Khabri420]

When I tuned in, the commentators were ripping into Pankaj Singh because he is tall (about 6'3) but barely has any pace and wasn't able to get any sort of bounce out of the pitch. Bit harsh on the youngsta :younis

 

[AZ]

When I tuned in, the commentators were ripping into Pankaj Singh because he is tall (about 6'3) but barely has any pace and wasn't able to get any sort of bounce out of the pitch. Bit harsh on the youngsta :younis

lol, not really! should've seen him bowl at the death! certainly lead to the death of India in this match

 

[Khabri420]

lol, not really! should've seen him bowl at the death! certainly lead to the death of India in this match

What I meant was shame on the commentators for having such high expectations in the first place :aamir

 

[AZ]

phir sahi hai

 

[Khabri420]

So is there party...similar to the IPL for the Rockstars?

 

[AZ]

So is there party...similar to the IPL for the Rockstars?

absolutely, but in much more modest surroundings:

 

[Oxy]

Rockstars was getting boring...

 

[Poison]

Lol at title

 

[Khabri420]

Why is it India vs *ockstars?

SL don't think of themselves as all that :younis

 

[ozymandias]

Rockstars was getting boring...

Fail. )

 

[pakcricketfan]

What I meant was shame on the commentators for having such high expectations in the first place :aamir

Lol.. true!

 

[jawad1]

even Mohammad Youfus took a wicket in 2007 against Zimbabwe. ) ) )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVF_Rb2UVnA

 

[AtifUk]

Hint of reverse swing in that delivery

 

[Oxy]

Apologies for the title malfunction.

'Fail' indeed!

 

[AZ]

even Mohammad Youfus took a wicket in 2007 against Zimbabwe. ) ) )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVF_Rb2UVnA

who's he?!

 

[Oxy]

even Mohammad Youfus took a wicket in 2007 against Zimbabwe. ) ) )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVF_Rb2UVnA

Youfus the doufus. Sounds good

 

[Desi]

A billion people and these are the bowlers they've got? I think members on this forum could have provided more sting with the ball than this Indian attack. Their batsman did ok, but when you have this type of attack 280 is a MINIMUM

I am seriously just in awe of how bad this bowling attack is, if I was Indian I would be livid. Hell, I'm Pakistani and I'm annoyed at the quality displayed by them in this tournament.

 

[mastermind_quad]

absolutely, but in much more modest surroundings:

haha ...Zulfi bhai ye to chai ki dukaan hai...

 

[ali2220]

I think India did well by fielding young guns in such a useless OD series, i mean whats the point in playing Sachin,Sehwag, Yuvraj in such a series?

 

[AZ]

win the series perhaps?