MS Dhoni, the India captain, must have been excited about winning his first toss of the tri-series yesterday. His joy, however, was short-lived as the India innings was over less than two hours and 33.4 overs later for a mere 103, and Sri Lanka needed only 15.1 overs to cruise past the target. There is bound to be some complaint about the pitch over the coming days. The India team have become poor travellers and sore losers. They blamed excessive cricket and the pitch after the 200-run defeat against New Zealand.
Before the second game, Dhoni scrapped a training session because of the "poor condition" of the wickets provided. Then came the issue of Suraj Randiv's no-ball to deny Virender Sehwag a century and India had found another issue to keep the focus away from the cricket. The India captain, however, refused to offer any excuses for the batting debacle and said: "We didn't really get the kind of start we needed. We couldn't really put anything on the board, which the bowlers could have defended.
"Sri Lanka bowled in the right channels and pushed out batsmen to commit mistakes, because of which we were all out for 103 runs." While Sri Lanka and New Zealand have been taking this tournament seriously in preparation for the World Cup next year, India have been struggling with injuries to Zaheer Khan, their strike bowler, while Sachin Tendulkar's "rest" has left a big void in the batting. In the two completed innings in the tri-series, India have scored only 191 runs (88 and 103) and batting for 29.3 and 33.4 overs respectively. Now they must beat New Zealand on Wednesday to qualify for Saturday's final against Sri Lanka.
"It is like a semi-final," Dhoni said about the New Zealand match. "After that, if we win we will play the final - if not, we will pack our bags and go home." The implosion of India's innings yesterday - after being 20 without loss in the sixth over - was because Sri Lanka had a plan for each of the batsmen. The highest partnership for India was the 24 runs that Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh (38) added for the third wicket. They took the score to 50, before the wheels came off.
From 50 for two, India slipped to 80 for eight, with Yuvraj contributing the bulk of the runs as wickets kept falling around him. Nuwan Kulasekara started the procession by trapping Sehwag lbw and having Dinesh Karthik edge one behind the stumps. Thisara Perera (five for 28) then stepped in to bag the first five-wicket haul of his ODI career and take the man-of-the-match award. "There was a bit in the wicket, not just early on but right throughout the innings," Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain, said after the must-win game that took them into the final. "Our bowlers, from the first ball itself, bowled great lines and great lengths. "Perera had a fantastic game here. He has always done well. He was there and thereabouts. Today he really came out and did what we wanted him to do and really won us the game." arizvi@thenational.ae
India Karthik c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 9 Sehwag lbw b Kulasekara 12 R Sharma lbw b Mathews 11 Yuvraj lbw b Malinga 38 Raina c Sangakkara b Perera 8 Dhoni c Sangakkara b Perera 10 Jadeja c Silva b Perera 0 Praveen c Tharanga b Perera 0 Nehra c Sangakkara b Malinga 2 I Sharma b Perera 3 Ojha not out 2 Extras 3lb, 5w 8 Total (all out, 33.4 overs) 103 Fall of wickets: 1-20; 2-26; 3-50; 4-61; 5-71; 6-77; 7-77; 8-80; 9-99; 10-103 Bowling: Malinga 9-1-21-2; Kulasekara 9-2-31-2; Mathews 8-3-20-1; Perera 7.4-1-28-5 Sri Lanka Jayawardene c Jadeja b I Sharma 33 Dilshan c Nehra b I Sharma 35 Tharanga not out 12 Sangakkara not out 13 Extras 6lb, 4w, 1nb 11 Total (2 wickets, 15.1 overs) 104 Fall of wickets: 1-79; 2-79 Bowling: Praveen 7-1-44-0; Nehra 5-0-39-0; I Sharma 3.1-0-15-2 Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets.