India beat Sri Lanka by 63 runs in 9th ODI at Bristol

Bristol, July 11:  India sounded an ominous warning to England before Saturday's tri-series final as it handed out Sri Lanka a 63-run drubbing at Neville Road on Thursday. In a fixture that was merely academic, after Tendulkar's 102-ball 113 runs had lifted India to 304 all out, Sri Lanka despite a spirited attempt, folded to 241 all out.

Sri Lanka was well set at 160 for two after 26 overs, but lost three wickets including opener Marvan Atapattu, 53, and Mahela Jayawardene, 31, for 11 runs to lose its way in the day/night international.

India grabbed a bonus point for the victory after restricting Sri Lanka to a total under 243 and finished with 19 points after four wins. England with three wins had 15 while Sri Lanka has four points for its only win over England.

Earlier, lefthander Kumar Sangakkara came out of the shadow of Tendulkar's masterly innings and smashed 66 runs off 47 balls to give Sri Lanka hopes a shot in the arm.

But he carelessly charged offspinner Harbhajan Singh, 4-46, after two balls and was stumped by Rahul Dravid after hitting a six and 11 fours.

Yuvraj Singh, India's find of the series, with both bat and ball, produced two decisive blows to cut short Sri Lanka's charge. Bowling his left arm spin, he forced Jayawardene to reverse sweep a catch and two over later, he brilliant ran out Atapattu with a direct hit.

During the crackerjack 85-run second wicket stand with Sangakkara, Atapattu's contribution was just 14 runs. This was after leftarm fast bowler Zaheer Khan had trapped skipper Sanath Jayasuriya leg before wicket in the second over of the innings. Harbhajan playing for the rested legspinner Anil Kumble, rushed India to victory by taking 3-3 in eight balls.

Tendulkar didn't take the field during the Sri Lanka innings as he nursed a suspected hamstring injury.

"I had a stiff hamstring," Tendulkar said. "Its nothing serious but I didn't want to risk it and that's why I rested. "It was a great wicket to bat on and I went out there and enjoyed myself."

Tendulkar's 33rd one-day hundred was the highlight of the day after skipper Sourav Ganguly had decided to make first use of a good batting pitch.

The "little master" provided entertainment for the noisy 12,000 spectators as he reached the century of 93 balls. He hit a six and 12 boundaries and was later voted man-of-the-match. It was his second ton of the series after he had smashed 105 not out off 108 balls against England in a match that was abandoned due to rain at Riverside last week.

After India had raced to 100 runs in 15 overs, Tendulkar and Mongia chalked up a run-a-ball, 99-run third wicket stand. This was after both openers — Ganguly, nine, and Virender Sehwag, 39 — were run out.

Ganguly, playing in his 200th match, fell to a brilliant throw from the outfield as he turned blind for a second run. Sehwag — who had toyed with leftarmers Chaminda Vaas, 1-64, and Nuwan Zoysa, 1-66, to hit six boundaries — backed up too far to a shot by Mongia, and ran himself out.