One-day tri-series, Dambulla:
India 171-4 (34.4 overs) beat Sri Lanka 170 (46.1 ovs) by six wickets
Match scorecard
 Sehwag played some trademark fluent strokes in his 36th one-day fifty |
India captured their first win of the triangular series in Dambulla with a six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankans lost Upul Tharanga to the first ball of the match and were all out for 170 in the 47th over, with Tillakaratne Dilshan (45) top-scoring. India lost three wickets in three overs early on but Virender Sehwag hit 11 fours and two sixes in an unbeaten 99 and shared 80 with Mahendra Dhoni (23). They took their side to their target in the 35th over to earn a bonus point. It was a fine response from India, who lost the opening match of the series by 200 runs to New Zealand, and it means that all three teams have one victory apiece. New Zealand and India both have five points, the Kiwis topping the table on run-rate, with Sri Lanka currently third on four points. The Sri Lankans opted to bat first but from the moment Tharanga lost his off-stump having been caught on the crease to Praveen Kumar they were in trouble. Kumar Sangakkara top-edged a bouncer in the fourth over and Mahela Jayawardene was lbw prodding forward to Kumar in the seventh. Dilshan hit two fours in an over from Ashish Nehra but any hopes of a substantial innings to rescue his side were ended in the 22nd over when a top-edged a slog sweep at slow left-armer Pragyan Ojha went straight up in the air and was easily caught. Another slow left-armer, Ravindra Jadeja, dismissed Angelo Mathews with his fourth ball and a sequence of 15 overs without a boundary followed before Kulasekara (22) and Randiv (43) helped to give their team at least something to bowl at.  | 606: DEBATE |
India's inexperienced middle order failed to fire, however, as 21-year-old Virat Kohli was smartly caught behind by Sangakkara at full stretch and 23-year-old Rohit Sharma was also dismissed for a duck, given out lbw although replays suggested an inside edge before the ball struck the pad. That left them on 32-3 in the 11th over but Sehwag cracked successive fours off paceman Lasith Malinga and repeated the feat with boundaries through backward point from the bowling of spinner Suraj Randiv. The cavalier opener was on 75 with only 30 needed but proceeded to hit two sixes and a four in the space of five deliveries. With one run required and Sehwag on strike Randiv sent down a no-ball, which counted as the winning run, even though the star batsman smashed the delivery over long-off for six. The 31-year-old, who was stumped for 99 in a Test match against Sri Lanka in July, was thus denied a 13th ODI hundred but has another chance against them in his team's final group match on 22 August. Sri Lanka skipper Sangakkara insisted his side had not deliberately bowled a no-ball to prevent Sehwag reaching three figures. "I am not aware of that," he said. "He deserved the century surely. They played really well with bat and ball, 230 would have been a decent score but then Viru batted all the way through. He was the most important factor." Sehwag himself said: "It happens in cricket. The other team doesn't want anybody to score a hundred against them. They tried their best. Doesn't matter to me, 99 or 100." The three teams play each other twice before the top two contest the final on 28 August.
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