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India won the sixth ODI against SL by 7 wickets Colombo,
July 28:
This is India's first ODI win over Lanka in their last six meetings -- and
it came without either Tendulkar or Ganguly and, what's more, with both
seam bowlers Ashish Nehra and Zahir Khan, as also number three bat VVS
Laxman, carrying injuries. For
now, we're talking flash in the pan. India will need to win three more --
two in the league, plus the final -- to put its earlier idiosyncracies
behind them. Sri
Lanka made a change in its line up, replacing the off-colour Avishka
Gunawardene with Kumar Sangakarra, and pushing Romesh Kaluwitharana back
into the opener's slot. And Sanath Jayasuriya took an early trick when he
won the toss and took first strike. Strike,
in fact, was the operative word on a new pitch which rolled out truer and
harder than what we've seen till date in this tournament. As early as the
4th over, the Lankan skipper was flicking Ashish Nehra over square leg for
one of his trademark sixes and despite good bowling by Zahir and Nehra and
Kaluwitharana being a bit below his normal fluent self, Jayasuriya ensured
that Lanka was crusing at 51/0 in the first ten overs. It
needs mentioning, though, that both batsmen were very, very lucky to
survive that long. In the 5th over, Zahir Khan swung one back in the air,
straightened it on line of off and middle and found Kaluwitharana's pad.
The umpire thought there was some doubt to give the batsman the benefit
of. That
was off the last ball of the over. The first ball of the 6th, from Ashish
Nehra, saw a quicker one, on line of off and middle, beat Jayasuriya's
attempt to play to leg and take the pad, again plumb in line. Again, the
appeal was turned down. Rahul
Dravid led India in the absence of Saurav Ganguly, but the basic gameplan
remained unchanged. Harbhajan Singh and Retinder Sodhi came on after 10
overs, and the scoring rate immediately fell from 5 per over in the first
ten, to 3 an over in the next ten -- 65/0 in 15, 80/0 in 20. When
a team that gets off the blocks in a hurry gets checked to that extent,
something has to give -- and in this case, the something was Jayasuriya's
patience. The Lankan skipper, soon after completing yet another ODI fifty,
tried to break Harbhajan's grip, hitting against the turn at an
off-spinner landing on middle stump. The extra bounce the offie generates
off the deck did Jayasuriya in and Khurasiya, at deep midwicket, didn't
have to move an inch to take the mistimed hit. The
trend seen thus far in the tournament continued, with the run rate
slipping in the middle overs. A major reason for this has been the fact
that the ball doesn't quite come on to the bat, forcing the batsmen to
wait for their shots and guide, rather than hit, the ball. Here again,
with India's support spinners operating, the Lankan batsmen found it
almost impossible to get off the square. Overs
21-30 produced 46 runs (126/1 in 30) -- which, given that part-timers were
operating, meant that Lanka was still struggling -- and India was doing
very well to keep the pressure up. Yuvraj
Singh, who in this tournament has been doing more with the ball than with
the bat, put his hand up again in his spell here. In the 31st over, he
tossed one up at Kaluwitharana, inviting the increasingly impatient opener
to have a go. Kalu did, but without really getting to the pitch of the
ball on an attempt to clear the infield, and managed to flat bat it
straight at Sodhi at mid off. Mahela
Jayawardene hasn't had the best of tournaments so far, and this outing was
no exception. Hemang Badani came round the wicket to float one up around
the batsman's off stump, Jayawardene charged down the track swinging, the
ball turned away and Dighe held the faint outer edge. Jayawardene, in
fact, would have been stumped if he had not beenn caught behind, and Lanka
were 143/3 in 35.2 overs. From
then on, it all went downhill for the hosts in a manner reminiscent of
India's collapse in the previous game. Marvan Atapattu, who in that
brilliant chase against New Zealand earlier in the tournament had played
the crucial anchoring role, attempted to do something about the run rate.
The batsman who is used to playing straight in the V aimed an
uncharacteristic heave, aiming to hit Shewag from off to leg, failed to
get any kind of elevation on the shot, and hit it straight to Sodhi at
midwicket to have Lanka, at the end of 40 overs, on 165/4. At that point,
thirty overs after the first ten had produced just 115 runs. Chaminda
Vaas had been sent in at the fall of the third wicket to try and do
something about the run rate. Throughout this series, the pinch hitting
option has proved a failure -- the conditions prevailing being more suited
to playing straight than to slogging. Vaas here was the latest
pinch-hitter to prove the point, attempting a huge hoik against
Harbhajan's turn and, like his captain earlier, mishitting this time to
backward square leg (166/5). Suresh
Perera, a dangerous lower order player, for once failed to get going, this
time thanks to some fine swing and seam bowling. Zahir Khan and Ashish
Nehra, brought back by Dravid for the slog overs, provided a tight line
and length and the former took Perera out with some intelligent bowling.
Seeing Perera showing signs of getting on the front foot, Zahir slammed
one in short -- and off the very next ball, produced a late swinging
yorker that surprised the batsman and crashed into middle stump (177/6). In
the very next over, Perera's partner in that spectacular chase against New
Zealand became the next casualty. Russel Arnold aimed to cut a slanting
Nehra delivery, failed to control it thanks to bounce and lateral movement
off the seam, and picked out Yuvraj at point to reduce Lanka to 177/7
(178/7 in 45 overs). From
there on it was almost mathematical -- in the 46th over, Zahir got one to
kick and seam away from Dharmasena, finding the edge en route to the
keeper. An over later, Nehra pitched one on leg and straightened it,
Muthaiah Muralitharan opted for a slog sweep and played all over the line,
for the ball to take out leg stump (181/9). And two runs later, a needless
run out ended the Lankan innings on 183, with over three overs of the
allotted 50 to go. From
102/0, Lanka had lost 10 wickets for 81 runs -- a testimony to some
controlled cricket by the Indians, both with the ball and in the field. In
passing, you wonder if the character of the Lankan game is changing, or
whether what we've seen in this tournament is a one-off. Earlier, Lanka's
forte used to be its power-packed batting -- no matter how many runs the
bowlers conceeded, a strong batting lineup would back itself to go one
better. Increasingly, it is the batting that is failing, and the bowlers
who are pulling it back for the 1996 World Champions. Off
the second ball of the Indian reply, Amay Khurasiya made a meal of yet
another opportunity. The Chaminda Vaas delivery was very full on off
seaming just fractionally inwards. Khurasiya aimed an on drive, bat and
pads well apart, and got an edge through the gate onto the stumps. India
could have been in greater trouble when, in the 6th over, the impressive
Dilhara Fernando, easily the fastest in the Lankan lineup, replaced Suresh
Perera and made one kick alarmingly off a length to find the shoulder of
Shewag's bat. Jayawardene carried his poor batting form onto the field as
well, to put down the sitter at slip with India on 25/1 at that point. With
VVS Laxman stroking at close to his best against seam, India got into
cruise mode after that alarm. Shewag seemed content to play the anchoring
role, but then fell into a well-set trap against Dharmasena. Jayasuriya
brought his mid on and mid off in, inviting the batsman to try and go over
the top. Shewag accepted, came down the track and aimed a slogging on
drive against a ball pushed through quicker and turning in a bit to cramp
the shot. Shewag found Sangakarra at mid on, and India in the 14th over
were 67/2 (66 off 81 for the second wicket). Muralitharan
(4-2-6-0 in his first spell) and his supporting spinners did to India what
Harbhajan and company had done to Lanka earlier in the day, putting the
brakes on the run rate. At 69/2 in 15, 81/2 in 20 and 105/2 in 25, India
were going on par with Lanka (65/0 in 15, 80/0 in 20, 103/1 in 25). The
chasing side had lost an extra wicket at the halfway stage of the innings,
but that factor was offset by the Lankan collapse in the second half of
the first innings. Laxman
had some early problems against Muralitharan, but once he got a feel for
the amount of turn and drift, he settled down into steady, controlled
strokeplay, eschewing the away-from-the-body shots he had been perishing
to earlier in this tournament. At the other end, Dravid was content to
button his end down. Both
batsmen seemed to have take note of coach John Wright's recent statement
that India was losing because it was making elementary mistakes --
"not preserving wickets, bad running, not making an effort to get at
least four runs every over". Thus, they built a steady partnership,
the calling and running was spot on, and the run rate stayed at a steady 4
rpo. This last was crucial -- in earlier games, despite chasing low
totals, India had created pressure for itself by allowing the asking rate
to climb. Laxman
got to a fluent 50 (79 balls) after a surprisingly prolonged dry spell.
India progressed from 122/2 in 30 (Lanka 128/1 in 30) to 147/2 in 35 (
Lanka 141/2). Equally significantly, the runs came at a steady pace -- the
first 50 came off 67 balls, the second off 77, the third off 66. In
the 38th over, Chaminda Vaas picked up his 200th ODI wicket in his 163rd
match, when he induced Dravid (43) to push at a ball leaving him off the
seam, to get the edge through to the keeper, ending a solid 84-run third
wicket partnership (151/3) that took the game away from Lanka. India
sealed the 7 wicket win in the 46th over, with Laxman masterminding the
effort with an unbeaten 87. And
India finally put points on the board -- ahead of back to back games, next
week, against New Zealand and Lanka
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