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| Sri Lanka win
Series with an 8-wkt win |
August 11, 2008
Sri Lanka have deservingly won the 3-Test
Series Idea Cup 2-0 by defeat India by 8 wickets in the 3rd
and final Test at the P Sara Stadium in Colombo. Set a target
of 122, the hosts received early tremors but recovered soon
under the calming influence of their Skipper Mahela
Jayawardene, who fittingly went onto hit the winning runs in
the company of Malinda Warnapura.
India wasn't short of inspiration going into
the fourth day at a dismal 161 for 5 when the news of the
Indian Shooter
Abhinav Bindra winning a Gold Medal in the
ongoing Beijing Olympics came into the limelight. The prolific
pair of Rahul Dravid and an injured VVS Laxman set themselves
up for the long partnership while doing their basics right. A
Kolkata revival was on the cards but then it was no Aussie
attack. This Sri Lankan attack had the 'unplayable' Mystery
Spinner - Ajantha Mendis and a wicket could come each and
every delivery bowled by him. Dravid and Laxman saw the first
hour through until Mendis worked out a new angle which sealed
the fate of the match. Ajantha went from round the sticks and
fired an away going delivery that forced Dravid to nick him to
Mahela in the slips, who took a fabulous low catch. It still
was a sincere effort from Rahul Dravid (68 from 166 balls with
6 fours), he tried his best as long as he was in the middle.
The partnership with Laxman was 85 which was below par their
potential.
It was only matter of time before the Indian
second innings folded. VVS Laxman worked his way to a half
century but really couldn't show any guts in going berserk to
add as many runs as possible before the tail enders got wiped
off. Laxman ended up with 61 (from 157 balls with 3 fours) and
India got bowled out for 268 in 87.5 overs. Harbhajan Singh
had swept his way to a 32-ball 26 that had 5 fours which
helped India a three figure lead. There was one totally
interesting moment towards the end of the innings when they
were four Indian batsmen in the ground with Gambhir running in
for Laxman and Parthiv for Ishant. Ajantha Mendis finished
with match figures of 8 for 177 and in overall, 26 wickets in
his Debut Series which got him the Man of the Series.
Harbhajan and Zaheer provided a wonderful
opening by removing Michael Vandort (cleaned up by a Harbhajan
armer) and first innings centurion Sangakkara (caught at mid
off after playing little too early). Sri Lanka were 22 for 2
and that was quite a vulnerable position. The Indian bowlers
failed to make any further inroads as Mahela Jayawardene was
too good with his solid technique while the young Malinda
Warnapura got satisfaction in staying till the end. The end
came in the 34th over with both Warnapura (54 from 99 balls
with 5 fours) and Mahela (50 from 85 balls with 3 fours)
helping themselves to unbeaten half centuries. The Man of the
Match went to Kumar Sangakkara for his crucial 144 in Sri
Lanka's first innings.
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