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Sri Lanka lose a thriller in Adelaide
Wednesday, 20 February 2008 - 5:10 AM SL Time
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Sri Lanka took their Commonwealth Bank Series day-night encounter against India to the wire and were beaten by the narrowest of margins, but time certainly is running out for them in this tri-nation competition.
They certainly don`t look the team they were a year ago during the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean. The batsmen aren`t firing and the fielding looks awful while for the first time in this series their bowling too looked out of depth. With yesterday`s two wicket defeat, the runners-up of the World Cup are getting closer to an early elimination and their task of making it to the best of three finals looks extremely slim.
However, unlike against the Australians in Sydney and Perth, the tourists went down fighting this time and another ten or 15 runs could have made all the difference.
Lasith Malinga was called upon to bowl the penultimate over with India needing seven runs and three wickets in hand. He needed to come up with an effort like in the World Cup against the South Africans and he nearly did that again.
Despite losing Harbhajan Singh in that over, Ishant Sharma hanged around for the last two balls by Malinga and then in the last over bowled by Farveez Maharoof, Dhoni took India home with five balls to spare. He made an unbeaten 50.
Australia are top of the table with 17 points while India are second with eight points and Sri Lanka six points.
Earlier, a fantastic 128 by Kumar Sangakkara had helped Sri Lanka to a modest 238, but eventually that wasn`t sufficient.
Sri Lanka started defending their modest total with a bang. Lasith Malinga removed dangerman Sachin Tendulkar for a second ball duck off his very first ball when he squared up the maestro and cleaned bowled him. Sanath Jayasuriya then with a direct hit send back Robin Uthappa for ten while Ishara Amarasinghe had Gautam Gambir caught behind and India were 35 for three.
Yuvraj Singh, who had been out of form all summer, chose the perfect moment to return to form with a match winning 76 in 70 balls with ten fours and a six. When Chaminda Vaas, returning for his second spell, yorked him with the total on 158, India still had a lot to do, but Sri Lanka took a little longer to break the partnership between Dhoni and Irfan Pathan and their 58 run stand eventually made the difference between the sides.
Kumar Sangakkara seem to do hardly anything wrong these days. Ever since his brief career with English county Warwickshire, his career been on a upward curve and following the excellent run of form in Tests against Australia and England, he`s turned out to be the most consistent player around and he starred for the Sri Lankans once again with his seventh ODI hundred.
On a hot and humid day where temperature reached 38 celsius Sangakkara showed plenty of character.
Except for him, the rest of the Sri Lankan batsmen have been pretty ordinary during the Commonwealth Bank Series and on this occasion, captain Mahela Jayawardene stepped up a gear making 71.
After winning the toss, they had to put up a decent score on the board and their campaign got off to the worst possible start when Tillekeratne Dilshan departed in the first over and two overs later, Sanath Jayasuriya too was back in the pavilion with the total on five for two.
Dilshan who cracked the first delivery of the game for four half heartedly pushed at a Munaf Patel delivery and was caught behind while Jayasuriya was dismissed in the most unfortunate circumstances when he backed up too far for a duck. Patel managed to get his fingers after Sangakkara drove straight down and Jayasuriya had committed a fatal mistake by not having the bat in the right hand.
Backing up too far would hurt Sri Lanka later too when Jayawardene was dismissed in similar fashion when Sangakkara drove another one straight down. But by then they had completed their rescue mission adding an invaluable 153 runs for third wicket in 195 balls.
So fragile is Sri Lanka`s middle order that another wicket would have meant certain humiliation for them, but the two senior players milked the bowling and ensured they got to a competitive total.
Sri Lanka managed just 21 runs in the first ten overs and that told you the story that their confidence in their middle order had been really dented after some ordinary performances by both Chamara Silva and Chamara Kapugedara.
The scoreboard read 44 for two at the end of the 15th over and 60 for two at the end of over number 20 and Sri Lanka had failed to take any advantage of the Power Plays.
As Sri Lanka went beyond 150 in the 37th over, they were in a position to launch for a big score, but two wickets in the space of two runs pegged back their progress.
When Jayawardene was dismissed for 71 he had ensured that his team was in a comfortable position. Kapugedara was promoted ahead of Silva and his horrible run of form continued when he was run out for just one.
Chamara Silva although didn`t look fluent added a vital 73 runs with Sangakkara and contributed with 21 in 30 balls. He struggled to time the ball with a few swing and misses and was guilty of not rotating the strike, but the mere fact that he hanged around with the vice-captain helped Sri Lanka immensely.
Sangakkara brought up his hundred and Sri Lanka`s 200 coming down the wicket to Munaf Patel and launching him for four through long-on.
Although he was exhausted having batted from the first over, Sangakkara didn`t throw it away and went onto make 128, his second highest score in ODIs.
Scoreboard
Sri Lanka Innings
S Jayasuriya run out Patel 0
T Dilshan c Dhoni b Patel 4
K Sangakkara c Kumar b Pathan 128
M Jayawardene run out 71
C Kapugedera run out 1
C Silva c Uthappa b Harbhajan 21
F Maharoof not out 3
C Vaas not out 1
Extras: (4lb,4w,1nb) 9
TOTAL: (for six wickets) 238
Overs: 50.
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-6, 3-159, 4-161, 5-234, 6-235
Did not bat: Malinga, Amerasinghe, Muralitharan.
Bowling: Patel 9-2-38-1 (1w),Sharma 10-0-44-0, Pathan 10--0-44-1 (2w), Kumar 10-0-49-0 (1nb), Harbhajan Singh 10-0-54-1, Y Singh 1-0-5-0 (1w).
India Innings
G Gambhir c Sangakkara b Amarasinghe 15
S Tendulkar b Malinga 0
R Uthappa run out 10
R Sharma c Silva b Muralitharan 24
Y Singh b Vaas 76
M.S.Dhoni not out 50
I Pathan b Amerasinghe 31
P Kumar c Jayawardene b Amerasinghe 6
Harbhajan Singh lbw b Malinga I Sharma not out 0
Extras: (14lb, 10w) 24
TOTAL: (for eight wickets) 239
Overs: 49.1
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-33, 3-35, 4-99, 5-158, 6-216, 7-229, 8-236.
Did not bat: Patel.
Bowling: Vaas 10-0-27-1, Malinga 10-1-37-2 (5w),
Amerasinghe 10-0-49-3 (2w), Maharoof 6.1-0-43-0 (2w), Muralitharan 10-0-44-1 (1w), Jayasuriya 2-0-14-0, Dilshan 1-0-11-0.
Umpires: Tony Hill, New Zealand, and Peter Parker, Australia.
TV Umpire: Bob Parry, Australia. Match Referee: Jeff Crowe, New Zealand.
Toss: won by Sri Lanka.
Result: India wins by 2 wickets.
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zaharan
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 20 Feb 2008 06:01:56 GMT Report for Abuse
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The bowlers did their job, another 15 runs from the batsmen would have made all the difference.
I don't understand when Sri Lanka will learn, with Sanath nearing retirement. A Sangakkara century could not bring us a win, but at least a 40 from Sanath, will turn out be a match winning one.
So that's the difference with this great player. None in the current line up can never match Sanath but at least our batsmen have to apply themselves, if we want to make an impact in the One Day scene in the future.
It is high time that Sri Lanka shed the formula
'WHEN SANATH STRIKES SRI LANKA WIN' and find other ways to emerge Winners.
Edited By - zaharan - 20 Feb 2008 06:03:18 GMT |
Damed
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 20 Feb 2008 10:44:32 GMT Report for Abuse
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Change to the order only way out../
Zaha,
have you seen the Test squad to Carib,
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zaharan
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20 Feb 2008 10:54:31 GMT Report for Abuse
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have you seen the Test squad to Carib,
Damed.......yes, Sanath has been left out and Malinga Bandara is dropped once again.
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nmaya
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 20 Feb 2008 11:05:23 GMT Report for Abuse
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| Yako sanath already retired from test cricket. how can you leave someone out when he's already retired. |
zaharan
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20 Feb 2008 11:08:24 GMT Report for Abuse
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how can you leave someone out when he's already retired.
Maya,
Kalabala wenna epa.
I know that, but he never retired from the one day scene!
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Damed
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20 Feb 2008 11:23:51 GMT Report for Abuse
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What Zaha worries,
having sana with and without, make a difference in and out of the team.
Lankan^s have failed to fill aging 03 with reliable ones.
they have come out with a Spinner and a All rounder to carrib../ how long this changing spiral work, for a spinner to fill Murali^s support roll../ or never
Edited By - Damed - 20 Feb 2008 11:26:07 GMT |
zaharan
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20 Feb 2008 11:38:24 GMT Report for Abuse
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What Zaha worries,
having sana with and without, make a difference in and out of the team.
Damed,
Exactly, it will be a real test for our batsmen in the ODI's sans the great Sanath.
And this time, the selectors have opted for 5 seamers. Chanaka Welagedera, who was highly spoken off, is dumped altogether and in place they have brought another seamer Thilina Thushara.
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Damed
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20 Feb 2008 12:18:55 GMT Report for Abuse
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Was thinking what MRs Cricketing Adviser doing../
Former spin legend Mr.D.S De Silva.
Two spinners leg and off or left and Right Arm, always add flavor to Cricket in the past.
Interest in Test Cricket has gone Far a way..//
With rotating talented players at each tour, looks most fail to adjust them selfs so soon.which makes them defensive all the time.
Edited By - Damed - 20 Feb 2008 12:21:26 GMT |
Ramz
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20 Feb 2008 12:55:21 GMT Report for Abuse
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I was very upset to look at the result.. once we had the match in our hand.... at the point that none of our bowlers could disturb Yuvi & Dhoni a little, it flown away from our hands...
I think, despite Dilshan failing over last two matches in the opening, we have to give him another 2-3 chances before thinking about changing his position.
Kapu & Tharanga have to prove that they deserve Sana's place after his retirement, if not, we will be in a real mess like Pakistan looking for an openning pair...
Zaha.... what about having Sanga as an opener after Sana if there was no option left... |
Bonggo
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20 Feb 2008 13:05:14 GMT Report for Abuse
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Zaha,
Thilina Thushara.
Machang Thilina Thushara is a very good bowler and an all rounder too. He will do a better job than Welagedera. However, since there are around 10 good seamers in the naional pool, competition is high and the selectors should opt for the best performers. |
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