Clinical Sri Lanka demolish India in final by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Ground:	Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Dambulla
Scorecard:	Sri Lanka v India
Player:	TM Dilshan, KC Sangakkara, MS Dhoni
Event:	Sri Lanka Tri Series 2010

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DateLine: 28th August 2010

 

Tillakaratne Dilshan struck a blistering century as the Lankans amassed an imposing 299/8. Dilshan notched up his eighth ODI century while skipper Kumar Sangakkara (71) and Mahela Jayawardene (39) were the other notable scorers for the hosts who have left India with a stiff asking rate of nearly six runs per over to record their second successive series triumph on Lankan soil in three months. India in reply never threatened to overtake the target and went down by 74 runs.

 

Sangakkara won the toss and elected to bat first against a pacer dominated Indian attack. India went in with seven specialist batsmen as beef up the batting line-up that has being struggling so far in this tournament. It was not a fiery start as the Lankan openers took some time to settle down and opened up gradually to pile up the misery on the visitors. After the first few overs, the Indian bowlers seemed to lose their rhythm and bowled a lot of loose deliveries.

 

Dilshan was more aggressive of the two openers, who raised the best opening partnership of the series so far by putting on 121 for the first wicket. Ishant Sharma provided the breakthrough for the visitors by evicting the experienced Jayawardene with Dinesh Karthik latching on to a well-judged catch.

 

Sangakkara and Dilshan then mounted more misery on the visitors as the Indian bowling wilted under pressure. The runs came at an healthy pace and the Indian bowlers failed to put a stop on the scoring. The Lankans were well set for a score past 300 run mark but the Indian bowlers bowled well in the final overs to keep Sri Lanka just below 300.

 

India in reply hoped that Sehwag would fire as he was the only batsman in the side who has looked comfortable in the middle. Karthik was undone by an umpiring error. Sehwag never looked in any sort of comfort as he was undone by the pace of Malinga and the seam of Kulasekara. Wickets tumbled regularly as the Lankans never really allowed the Indians to settle down. Barring Dhoni who made a fighting fifty none of the Indian batsmen stood up as India went down by 74 runs.