India defeated Sri Lanka by 5 wickets in the third cricket one-day international
at Nehru Stadium here today.
The hosts level the four-match series 1-1 with the last match
to be played in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
Skipper Rahul Dravid (66) and M.S. Dhoni (67
not out) scripted the Indian victory over the Sri Lankan.
Chasing the target of 231, India lost key opener Virendra
Sehwag (12), Sachin Tendulkar (1) and Yuvraj Singh (21) cheaply.
Pacer Zaheer Khan elected Man of the Match for his fiery
spell of five wickets haul.
Earlier, Arnold played a vital role in Sri Lanka's fightback
with an unbeaten 66 from 83 balls and shared a 89-run partnership for the sixth
wicket with Tillekaratne Dilshan. Captain Jayawardene combined
with his predecessor Atapattu to repair the early damage by adding 76
runs for the fourth wicket.
Harbhajan Singh chipped in with 2-37 while Kumar
Sangakkara, centurion at Rajkot, was out for a four-ball duck.
In the afternoon, the Indian run-chase commenced on a poor
note when under-fire Sehwag, promoted to open the innings after flopping
in the middle order at Rajkot in the previous tie, again flattered to
deceive.
After hitting three fours off the meat of the bat the Delhi
batsman, who the team captain feels is just one innings away from finding his
touch, succumbed to his old failing to the short ball from Fernando that climbed
to his chest which he fended awkwardly and ballooned to Dilshan at point.
Worse was to follow for the home team when Sachin Tendulkar,
who has scored 100 not out and 54 in his two previous ODI innings, failed
to prosper.
He dragged a ball on to his stumps when trying to drive Kulasekara
and India were reduced to 35 for two after five overs, 13 of which had come
in the first over from Farvez Maharoof who bowled four wides and was
hit for two boundaries by Sehwag.
Sourav Ganguly looked once again in good touch and was
hitting the ball fluently as wickets fell at the other end.
The Bengal stalwart off and square drove Maharoof
for two successive fours in the bowler's second over to banish him from the
attack after a two-over spell.
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