 For the second consecutive time in the series rain played important role to called off the match. After disastrous performance with the bat in first one-dayers against Australia, India turned in a solid performance with the bat only to be denied another result as the match was abandoned before Sri Lanka's run chase got underway. Gautam Gambhir and Indian captain M.S. Dhoni came to the party by putting up 184 runs for the fifth wicket when they were struggling at 83/4 at one stage. Gambhir (102) reached his century in the last over of the innings with Dhoni (88) keeping the run flow from the other end. Their unbroken stand of 184 for the fifth wicket gave a boost to their chances after the batsmen failed to do little in the abandoned opening match of the tri-series against Australia and also in a one-off Twenty20 outing against the home side which saw India being bowled out for a meagre 74 runs. Earlier Indian captain M.S. Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first at Gabba ground for the second time in the series. However this time there opening pair started well with V.Sehwag (33 runs of 39 balls) and Sachin Tendulkar (35 runs of 52 balls). Both put on 68 runs for the first wicket. In the short stay at the crease Sachin Tendulkar got past the 16,000-run mark before he was bowled by Malinga, edging a ball back on to the stumps. Virendra Sehwag also got out few overs later when he tried to pull I.Amarsinghe short delivery but only manages to give simple catch to Kumar Sangkara. Indian middle order once gains failed to capitalize on solid start given by their opener, the comeback man Yuvraj Singh (2 runs of 11 balss) and Rohit Sharma (0 runs of 2 balls) departed soon to leave India tattering at 83/4. Both batsman got out by world most test wicket taker M.Muralitharan. Due to heavy rain in the inning break Match was finally called off and both team was awarded 2 points each. Match Summary India –267/4 in 50 Overs G.Gambhir – 102* M.S. Dhoni - 88*
M. Muralitharan – 10-0-51-2 I.Amarsinghe - 10-2-30-1 |
