Sri Lanka Beat India Tri-Series Final

India's rollercoaster ride in the Sri Lankan tri-series culminated with a 74-run loss in the final at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium. Tillakaratne Dilshan's fluent 110 and skipper Kumar Sangakkara's aggressive 71 helped Sri Lanka post 299-8. Predictably, India found the going tough under lights, finishing with 225.


Losing the toss has been akin to losing the game in this tournament. Once Sangakkara had chosen to bat, India's best chance lay in hurting their opponents with new ball. But after Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene had laid a solid 121-run foundation, it was Sri Lanka's game to lose.


India's innings followed a path not unexpected. Dinesh Karthik capped a miserable series --- 33 runs in five innings --- with a duck, wrongly given out caught behind off his thigh pad. Virender Sehwag scored a quick 28 before getting run out straying out of his crease during an appeal for LBW. Sri Lanka's seamers India's middle order --- Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina --- offered the collective tensile strength of a glucose biscuit and only captain MS Dhoni held on, refusing to let go till the end.


Comprehensive middle order failure


Sri Lanka's seamers were expected to dominate the evening session, and they did. Suraj Randiv claimed Raina and Rohit, while dibbly dobbler Thisara Parera (3-36) accounted for Kohli and Yuvraj.


Yuvraj had a charmed innings of 26, once surviving a huge caught-behind appeal and then been caught off a no-ball. Kohli mistimed a slog to third-man while Yuvraj inside-edged to Sangakkara.


Raina and Dhoni seemed like restoring parity as they added 47 runs for the fifth wicket. With Rohit still left, India could have hoped for a miracle. But Raina skied a catch to cover trying to clear the mid-off off Randiv.


Kohli finished the tournament with 45 runs in three innings, Raina 69 in five, Rohit 20 in four and Yuvraj 75 in four. However, one can't read too much into these figures.


Weak bowling


With the exception of Munaf Patel (2-42) India's four-seamer attack fared poorly today. The tidy part-time spin of Yuvraj and Sehwag, however, minimised damages.


India needed new ball wickets and didn't get any. Things, however, could have been very different in the first over of the match. Praveen Kumar's fourth ball pitched in line and cut in as Jayawardene, playing across, was hit in front. Praveen's reluctant appeal for LBW wasn't upheld. Replays suggest the ball was going to knock off the leg bail.


Resultantly, Jayawardene played a steady 39 while his opening partner Tillakaratne Dilshan hammered a 36-ball fifty en route to his eighth ODI hundred. The opening stand was followed by another meaty 85-run stand with Sangakkara (71 off 62).


No 200+ target was chased down in this tournament yet. Only Sehwag could have changed that statistic, and his departure more or less sealed India's fate.


SL dominate noon session


Jayawardene fell trying to flick Ishant Sharma. An edge flew to Karthik at sweeper cover. Upul Tharanga (6) edged Yuvraj into Dhoni's gloves allowing India the briefest of comebacks. Sangakkara snatched the advantage back with his knock even as Dilshan slowed down while approaching his hundred.


Having got the landmark off 107 balls, Dilshan pulled Praveen into the hands of Ishant at deep backward square-leg. Munaf did India a huge favour when got Sangakkara to miscue a loft over cover.



Sri Lanka vs India, Final
Tri-Series in Sri Lanka, 2010: August 28, 2010
Venue: Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Dambulla
Toss:SL won the toss and elected to bat
Sri Lanka:299/8 (50.0 Ovs)
India:225-all out (46.5 Ovs)
Result: Sri Lanka won by 74 runs