Riding on brilliant bowling performance of C.Welegedara of 5/66 in his 10 overs, then brilliant century from T.Samarweera (105 runs of 106 balls) and Thissara Perera (36 runs of 15 balls) Sri Lanka beat India comfortably by five wickets to registered their second consecutive win of the tournament. After winning the toss and having opted to field first, they were right on the mark by picking up crucial wicket of in-form Gautam Gambhir (8 runs of 12 balls). However Virendra Sehwag continued his good show with the bat as he smashed 31 balls 47 runs to get India to flying start despite of losing an early wicket. But two quick blows hurt India badly and from 62/1 in the 6th over they were reduced to 71/3 in the 9th over. All three wickets were picked up by C.Welegedara. Indian captain M.S.Dhoni (37 runs of 70 balls) and Yuvraj Singh (74 runs of 84 balls) did tried to bring India back on track and they do manage to achieve the goal to some extent but both got out in quick succession to leave India to 198/5 in the 38th over. Some late hitting by Ravinder Jadeja (39 runs of 34 balls) and Suresh Raina (35 runs of 46 balls) did allowed India to post the target of 280 runs for the Sri Lankans. In the absence of T.Dilshan, Sri Lanka started their run chase in similar fashion smashing the opening bowlers all around the park. But Harbhajan Singh 3/47 helped India to get back into the game strongly. With Sri Lanka needing 54 runs of 39 balls when they have lost their fifth wickets in the face of T.Kandamby, but some poor bowling from Ashish Nehra and some superb hitting by Thissara Perera gem of a cameo (36 runs of 15 balls) sealed the game for Sri Lanka in the 48th over. T.Samarweera was declared Player of the Match for his superb century under pressure. Match Summary (Sri Lanka won by 5 Wickets) India – 279/8 in 50 Overs Yuvraj Singh- 74 V.Sehwag– 47 C.Welegedara– 10-1-66-5 T.Perera- 6--0-27-2 Sri Lanka– 283/5 in 48 Overs T.Samarweera- 105* K.Sangakara– 60 Harbhajan Singh- 10-1-47-3 S.Sreesanth– 7-0-47-1 |
