India crash against Sri Lanka at Brisbane
Fifties from Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen Tillakaratne Dilshan and Virat Kohli shaped up the Commonwealth Bank Series ODI between Sri Lanka and India at Brisbane. The Sri Lankans emerged victors by a margin of 51 runs.
India lost the toss for the umpteenth time this series and Sri Lanka chose to bat first. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene added 95 runs for the first wicket at a good pace. Dilshan finally converted a start into a half century, making 51 off 72 with five fours and one six. The duo were dismissed within a brief period, Sangakkara’s dismissal saw SL go from 95/0 in 18 overs to 124/3 in 27.1 overs.
India’s bowlers, missing the leadership of Zaheer Khan couldn’t sustain the pressure though and SL’s middle order comfortably accelerated to reach 289/6 at the end of their innings. Lahiru Thirimanne enjoyed a reprieve when Sehwag withdrew the appeal after he was Mankaded by R Ashwin albeit without prior warning.
Thirimanne made 62 while Angelo Mathews made 49 off 37 to pump SL’s score while Vinay Kumar faltered, going wicketless in his eight overs for 48 runs.
Sehwag was dismissed by Malinga off the second ball of India’s chase with not even a single run on board, Virat Kohli walked out in the 8th over when Sachin Tedulkar was bowled off Kulasekara.
Kohli and Raina put together a 92 run partnership for the fourth wicket to raise hopes of an Indian win but Raina’s dismissal in the just 20th over of the match, for 32 turned the game again in SL’s favour. The bowlers capitalized on it, their discipline not giving the Indians any easy runs.
Kohli’s dismissal for 66, an innings that contained only two fours, turned the score to 172/5 in the 36th over.
Irfan Pathan waged a lonely fight after that as Perera and Malinga removed the remaining batsmen regularly. Pathan was the last man to go, for 47 off 37 with seven fours. India’s innings ended at 238 at the beginning of the 46th over, 51 short of SL’s total, the loss pushing them to the bottom of the points table in the CB Series.
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