Outstanding seam bowling from Nuwan Kulasekara and Thisara Perera helped Sri Lanka beat India by 51 runs in their Tri-Nation Series One-Day International.
After Sri Lanka had scored an imposing 289 for six, man-of-the-match Kulasekara took three for 40 and Perera four for 37 as India were bowled out for 238, their second loss in three days. Sri Lanka moved into second place on the points table following the win and now have 11 points, three behind the hosts and one ahead of India.
The Indian chase began badly with stand-in captain Virender Sehwag falling to the second ball of the innings to Lasith Malinga, while Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed by Kulasekara for an aggressive 22. Any hopes of overtaking the Sri Lanka total were then dashed as India kept losing wickets at crucial moments. Virat Kohli was dropped twice by Dinesh Chandimal on his way to 66, with the only other real contribution coming from Irfan Pathan, who made 47.
Jayawardene delighted
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene was satisfied with his team’s all-round show.
“We played a pretty good game,” said Jayawardene. “But we made a few mistakes with some dropped catches and probably should’ve been able to push for a bonus-point win.
“We were put under pressure in certain situations but our boys did well and it was pretty much a complete game apart from the dropped catches.”
Jayawardene was also happy with the turnaround in fortunes that Sri Lanka were enjoying in the tournament.
“We’ve played some consistent cricket even though we lost the first few games and now we’re trying to finish games off well.”
Thirimanne benefits from reprieve
Earlier, Lahiru Thirimanne scored a quickfire 62 but not before India withdrew an appeal when he was on 44 after off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin legitimately removed the bails before he had bowled the ball when the batsman had left his crease too early.
But after the umpires talked to Sehwag and Tendulkar, India decided to give Thirimanne a reprieve.
Angelo Mathews hit an unbeaten 49 from 37 balls as Sri Lanka scored 91 off the last 10 overs. Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers with two for 50, while Pathan took two for 54.
Sehwag conceded India had been completely outplayed.
“We didn’t bowl well in the final overs, and we didn’t bat well,” he said. “The way Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir played, I thought we could get a good start but we lost three wickets early.”
Nuwan Kulasekara
“My strength is to swing the ball. Our bowling attack is very good with seamers and spinners doing a great job. Malinga is the number one bowler in the world right now and I’m lucky to be bowling with him.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2012.
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