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Indians tame Lankan lions

S. Ram Mahesh

Clinch first-ever bilateral ODI series in Lanka

— Photo: AP

LEADING ROLE: Suresh Raina, along with skipper M.S. Dhoni, put on 143 runs for the fourth wicket to help India post a decent score.

Colombo: India overcame a batting stutter in the gloaming to clinch its first-ever bilateral one-day series in Sri Lanka, winning the fourth ODI by 46 runs here at the Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday — the reserve day, after Tuesday was washed off — for an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

After M.S. Dhoni won his fourth straight toss, choosing to bat on a dry track, surprisingly blanched of Tuesday’s moisture, India appeared poised to put the game beyond Sri Lanka.

Good partnership

Suresh Raina (76, 78b, 6x4, 1x6), the Man-of-the-Match, and Dhoni (71, 80b, 4x4), two of the protagonists of the third game, played leading roles again, sharing a 143-run partnership (141b) for the fourth wicket. However, from 224 for three in the 41st over, India crashed to 258 in 49.4 overs.

Thilan Thushara, a shoulder-strong left-armer, bowled briskly without doing anything out of the ordinary to return figures of five for 47.

Jayasuriya on fire

Sanath Jayasuriya reprised a role he is familiar with under lights — that of composed spreader of panic — and although Munaf Patel wrapped Malinda Warnapura around an in-nipper (that hit the left-hander a touch high) and bowled Kumar Sangakkara off the inside edge (trapping him with the in-between length), Sri Lanka fancied its chances.

Jayasuriya — having hit Praveen Kumar out of the attack, slicing and slapping the width on offer — trained his sights on Munaf. The pick-up pull, levered by those outrageously muscular arms and triggered by an eye that refuses to dim with age, brought two sixes.

Harbhajan strikes

Just as the worry lines were creasing Dhoni’s brow, Harbhajan Singh struck in his first over. A flighted off-break, seam cambered just right, had the left-hander thrusting across the break, attempting to turn it to leg. The edge was caught splendidly by a rolling Raina at slip.

Harbhajan had a hand in the next wicket as well — the all-important one of Mahela Jayawardene.

The Sri Lankan captain, who has been a thorn in India’s flesh all series (although an agreeable thorn to watch), played one behind square and hesitated when called through by Chamara Kapugedera. Virat Kohli fired a return on the bounce from short fine-leg and Harbhajan broke the stumps at the non-striker’s end.

The Indians rejoiced, for they knew the heavy lifting was over. Yuvraj Singh’s left-arm slows gripped and turned, helping Dhoni offload ten overs of non-specialist bowling, and although Thushara, fast making a name as an all-rounder in this format, swung a bold bat, creating some anxiety, India held steady.

Impressive Zaheer

Zaheer returned to cap another marvellously controlled exhibition of seam bowling by having the left-hander caught on the boundary.

Kohli’s 54 earlier in the piece was the 19-year-old’s best all-round batting performance of the tour.

This isn’t to say the compromising foibles of the earlier games were tempered: the over-reaching bottom hand still caused trouble, but the signs were promising.

Despite the lack of pace, Kohli didn’t push at it, as is his wont. He held his form beautifully.

But Thushara had the right-hander forcing his hands at one angled across him; the stumps were rearranged off the inside edge.

Milestone for Vaas

Chaminda Vaas had earlier become only the fourth bowler to claim 400 ODI wickets.

Yuvraj, batting again at three, chipped a cutter to short mid-wicket, and Vaas raised his arms to the clouded afternoon sky.

SCOREBOARD

India: V. Kohli b Thushara 54, G. Gambhir c Dilshan b Kulasekara 17, Yuvraj c Jayawardene b Vaas 0, S. Raina c Kulasekara b Thushara 76, M.S. Dhoni c Jayasuriya b Thushara 71, Rohit c Warnapura b Mendis 18, S. Badrinath c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 6, Harbhajan (run out) 2, Praveen b Thushara 2, Zaheer c Warnapura b Thushara 0, Munaf (not out) 1; Extras (b-1, lb-5, w-5): 11; Total (in 49.4 overs): 258.

Fall of wickets: 1-44 (Gambhir), 2-51 (Yuvraj), 3-81 (Kohli), 4-224 (Raina), 5-232 (Dhoni), 6-243 (Badrinath), 7-253 (Harbhajan), 8-256 (Rohit), 9-257 (Praveen).

PP1 (1-10): 44/1; PP2 (11-15): 20/1; PP3 (16-20): 28/1.

Sri Lanka bowling: Vaas 9-1-40-1, Kulasekara 8-0-38-1, Thushara 8.4-0-47-5, Mendis 10-1-43-1, Muralitharan 10-0-56-1, Jayasuriya 4-0-28-0.

Sri Lanka: S. Jayasuriya c Raina b Harbhajan 60, M. Warnapura lbw b Munaf 0, K. Sangakkara b Munaf 6, M. Jayawardene (run out) 16, C. Kapugedera lbw b Yuvraj 30, T. Dilshan lbw b Harbhajan 12, C. Vaas lbw b Yuvraj 17, N. Kulasekara st Dhoni b Harbhajan 12, T. Thushara c Raina b Zaheer 40, A. Mendis (run out) 2, M. Muralitharan (not out) 1; Extras (b-4, lb-2, w-10): 16; Total (in 46.3 overs): 212.

Fall of wickets: 1-28 (Warnapura), 2-38 (Sangakkara), 3-74 (Jayasuriya), 4-106 (Jayawardene), 5-131 (Dilshan), 6-140 (Kapugedera), 7-157 (Vaas), 8-190 (Kulasekara), 9-206 (Mendis).

PP1 (1-10): 34/1; PP2 (11-15): 21/1; PP3 (16-20): 32/1.

India bowling: Praveen 4-0-25-0, Zaheer 9.3-3-27-1, Munaf 9-0-48-2, Harbhajan 10-0-40-3, Yuvraj 10-0-53-2, Rohit 4-1-13-0.

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