Sri Lanka Vs India - Highlights by Cricketfundas.com

[Swagi DeSilva]

Inda Vs Sri Lanka at Dambulla - 18.7.2004

Scorecard I Lanka defeat India by 12 runs in a nail-biting encounter

- B.V.Swagath

After two days of one-sided games, in this edition of the Asia Cup, it was time for some hardcore cricket with India taking on the home team - Sri Lanka on a fresh track at Dambulla.

The Flip of the coin :

Marvan Atapattu was back for Sri Lanka and he won the crucial toss and elected to bat first. Sri Lanka lost Sanath Jayasuriya due to a side injury. Experienced medium pacer Chaminda Vaas was back and another change was Farveez Maharoof coming in for Malinga. India suffered a huge blow as V.V.S.Laxman was ruled out for this game after getting a blow on his knees at nets, Parthiv got into his place.

Sri Lankan Batting :

Saman Jayantha and Avishka Gunawardene had tough time playing out the first five overs of the innings. Both Pathan and Balaji went past their outside edge on many occasions, but the two batsmen hung in there and built on a solid half century stand. Balajli after changing ends, got the breakthrough dismissing Samantha for 34 and Lanka at 63/1. Atapattu came in and nicked the ball to Parthiv, but Zaheer the bowler then and the fielders were in some other part of the world and didn't even appeal for some strange reasons. So the Lankan skipper got a lucky break and that was enough for him to build a 65 run stand with Avishka.

Atapattu however ran his partner out in a yes-no-yes situation in the 28th over, Gunawardene was out for 49. Another run out followed soon, this time it was Marvan Atapattu, the run out opportunity was created by Yuvraj's brilliant diving stop at point. Atapattu was out for 50 and Lanka now had two relatively new batsmen at the crease in Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. Both these youngsters played cricket at the highest quality with clean strikes, deft touches and aggressive running between the wickets to put Lanka in a commanding position. No bowler troubled them and even the experienced Anil Kumble failed to pick up wickets. Sangakkara started the onslaught with a lofted sweep into the stands of Yuvraj. Mahela Jayawardene picked it up from then on and played a sweetly timed pick-up shot off Balaji for a four and soon launched Sehwag over the long on boundary for a huge six. The two gems took Lanka to 272/4 before Sangakkara (57 from 54 balls) was out in the 49th over of the innings. Sri Lanka ended their innings at 282/4 with Jayawardene unbeaten on a superb 58 of 49 balls.

The Indian Chase :

It was going to be one heck of a chase for the Indians with the spin of Murali to tackle in the middle overs. But India had two dangerous openers in One-day cricket - Sehwag and Sachin, wait it wasn't Sehwag but it was little Parthiv who walked in with Tendulkar! What was this kid doing? Was it something like a Toss Ka Boss or was it a mere experiment? Only time would give the answer.

Sachin started things well enough with a couple of well-timed boundaries but for a shocking shot selection, threw his wicket away. When India needed Tendulkar to play a big innings, Tendulkar flopped, as he didn't get hold of his lofted off drive off Nuwan Zoysa and was caught at mid off. Sehwag came in and showed his intentions pretty early as he lofted Vaas over his head for a four in just the fourth ball he faced. Placement was ok, but not the timing! What was going on, Indians were playing their shots too early in their innings, isn't it? And to add more drama, Sehwag was dropped by Vaas in his follow through, everything was happening under lights at the Dambulla! Parthiv Patel left the scene after nicking the ball behind to Sangakkara off Zoysa. Sehwag started to play his normal game with crisp shots and kept the momentum going and India were going smoothly at 70/2 in the 14th over, and that was when tragedy struck as Sehwag got run out by a smart piece of fielding from Nuwan Zoysa. After just 3 more balls, Zoysa's golden arm struck again for Sri Lanka, as he got Sourav to mis-time a pull shot and was straight into the mid on fielder's hands. Dravid was the key for India and he had to stay around and play out some overs with the other batsmen rallying around him. Yuvraj did exactly that and both Dravid and Yuvraj began to put up a spirited stand. Runs weren't easy to come but both these batsmen fought it out. When the time came, both Dravid and Yuve shifted gears from 2nd to 3rd to 4th comfortably and put India back in the hunt. Chaminda Vaas spoiled the party by dismissing Yuvraj who picked the wrong ball to pull, Yuvraj was out for a hard made 47.

India were 204/5 with Yuvraj's wicket going down, the responsibility of playing the big shots was now on Dravid. Then came the big over with Dravid hitting a six with a clean slog-pull off Zoysa, which followed the cover drive he hit for a crucial boundary. Sri Lanka needed a wicket very badly and they got it as their star bowler Muralitharan bowled Dravid, leaving India at 234/6 in the 44th over. Well played Dravid, what a great knock of 82 it was!. This innings of Dravid forces me to rephrase an old Indian slogan as Cricket is our Religion and Dravid is our God. With Maharoof rearranging Kaif's stumps with a Yorker, it was all over for India. But wait it wasn't the end of India's hopes for people who have seen the fireworks of Irfan Pathan and Balaji with the bat in Pakistan. It was the greatest bowler in modern cricket, Muttaiah Muralitharan bowling to Irfan Pathan and what does Irfy do? He just plays his normal cricket, steps down the track and puts Murali into the long off stands with a huge huge six. Murali is clever as he bowls a flatter delivery this time sliding it past the left hander, but Irfan Pathan was equal to the task as he played the inside out lofted cover drive to send Murali for another boundary!

The target was stiff for the two lower order batsmen, but they never gave up the fight and that was the shining moment to sum off the day's play. With 18 runs required of the last over, Vaas did exactly what was expected off him and India fell short by 12 runs. Man of the Match was Nuwan Zoysa, who accounted for 3 wickets and a run out.