Sehwag's responsible knock sees India through

Tags: SL v IND 3rd Match at Colombo - Aug 16, 2010, Sri Lanka, India, Tri-Series in Sri Lanka - 2010, Virender Sehwag, Dambulla

Published on: Aug 17, 2010

Scorecard | Commentary | Graphs

Virender Sehwag played a responsible knock of 99* to steer India to a bonus point victory against Sri Lanka at Dambulla today.

Virender Sehwag played a responsible knock of 99* to steer India to a bonus point victory against Sri Lanka at Dambulla today. India chasing a moderate target of 171 found itself shaken up at 32 for 3 when Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma departed for ducks. Sehwag who usually under performs in this version of the game was determined to weather the storm and see India through. Every now and then he would find the boundaries to keep the scoreboard surging forward. First he got a 59-run partnership going with Suresh Raina (21 from 35 balls) who threw his wicket away with an aerial pull shot to get out at 91 for 4. When Raina was gone, the doors opened slightly for the Lankans but were firmly shut by the match-winning partnership of 80 for the unbroken fifth wicket between Sehwag (99* from 100 balls with 11 fours and 2 sixes) and MS Dhoni (23*).
Sehwag was deservingly the Man of the Match but unfortunately was denied a century though he had hit a six to finish the match. The reason why Sehwag's six didn't go counted was because the bowler Suraj Randiv had bowled a no-ball just after the scores were leveled!
Sri Lanka Innings
Sri Lanka have been bowled out for just 170 with all the Indian bowlers chipping in to sustain the pressure on them ever since Praveen Kumar cleaned up Upul Tharanga with the very first ball of the match. The new ball pair of Praveen and Nehra got excellent back up from Ishant Sharma which was followed up by the spin twins - Ojha and Jadeja. Sri Lanka could never ever come out of jail and when Dilshan on 45 departed, it was a disastrous 82 for 5 in the 22nd over.
Off Spinner Suraj Randiv provided some respectability to the total with a gritty 43 to lift the Sri Lankans to 170. Randiv put on a useful stand of 39 with Nuwan Kulasekara (22) for the 8th wicket. For India, Pragyan Ojha was the most successful bowler with 3 for 36. Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja took a couple of wickets each while Ashish Nehra took t he big wicket of Sangakkara early on.
Toss and Teams
Hosts Sri Lanka have won the toss and elected to bat first in Match 3 of the Tri-Series against India at Dambulla. Both the teams have made two changes. Sri Lanka have replaced Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis with Dilhara Fernando and Suraj Randiv. India have replaced Yuvraj Singh and Abhimanyu Mithun with Virat Kohli and Ishant Sharma.
Sri Lanka : WU Tharanga, TM Dilshan, KC Sangakkara (C&WK), DPMD Jayawardene, TT Samaraweera, CK Kapugedera, AD Mathews, KMDN Kulasekara, S Randiv, SL Malinga, CRD Fernando
India : KD Karthik, V Sehwag, V Kohli, SK Raina, RG Sharma, MS Dhoni (C&WK), RA Jadeja, P Kumar, I Sharma, A Nehra, PP Ojha

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