 Sri Lanka thrashed India quite comfortably by eight wickets in the 1st ODI played at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium. After the loss of two early wickets Sri Lankan captain M.Jayawardne (61 runs of 82 balls) and C.Kapugedra (45 runs of 72 balls) put on valuable partnership of 102 runs for the third wicket to guide their team to an easy win in 1st ODI to lead the five match Series by 1-0. 2nd ODI will be played in same venue on 20 th of August. Sri Lanka reached the target of 147 runs with 91 balls to spare. From India Munaf Patel was the most impressive bowler who gave India a glimpse of hope when he remove both the openers S.Jayasurya (10 runs of 14 balls) and K.Sangkara (19 runs of 41 balls). But it was too low score to create any pressure on the Sri Lankan middle order batsman. Young India once again failed to tackle the spin duo M.Muralitharan and A.Mednis as they bundled out for mere 146 in just 46 overs. No batsman able to play the long inning as Indian failed to post a challenging total to the Sri Lanka. After winning the toss M.S.Dhoni decided to bat first on a wicket which was looking greenish surface. But India failed to get the start from their new opening pair the debutant V.Kohli who is playing in place of injured V.Sehwag and G.Gambhir. The veteran C.Vaas removed G.Gambhir in his very first over to reduce the India score to 0/1 in 0.2 overs. Virat Kohli also didn't lasted longer as he was trapped right in-front by medium pacer N.Kulasekara. Yuvraj Singh, arriving as early as the eighth over of the innings with 23 on the board, showed a spark of promise when he hoisted Mendis over long on for six. But the very next delivery he was beaten for pace and bowled by A.Mendis. There after no batsman able to survive at the wicket as M.Muralitharan and A.Mendis kept picking up the Indian wickets. It was only the 10th wicket partnership of 29 runs between M.Patel (14 runs of 15 balls) and P.Ojha (16 runs of 33 balls) who helped India to reach closer to 150 run mark. A.Mendis was declared Man of the Match for his superb spell of 3/21. Match Summary India – 146/10 in 46 Overs Yuvraj Singh – 23 Rohit Sharma – 19 A.Mendis - 9-4-21-3 M.Muralitharan– 10-2-37-3 Sri Lanka – 147/2 in 34.5 Overs M.jayawardne – 61* C.Kapugedara – 45* M.Patel – 9-0-32-2 Z.Khan– 7-1-24-0 |
