Jayasuriya's men walk away with honours

By S. Dinakar

COLOMBO, AUG. 5. It was a shocking surrender. When it came to the crunch, the Indians were found wanting in both courage and character. The three breath-taking wins in the league seem a mirage as one batsman after another left in a daze. In pursuit of Lanka's 296, the Indians were bundled out for 174 in 47.2 overs at the Premadasa Stadium here on Sunday. Sri Lanka is the winner of the Coca-Cola Cup triangular series.

Gunning for a big target, the Indians required a good start and that did not materialise. The in-form Virendra Sehwag perished early unable to regain his ground after Ganguly played Dilhara Fernando to point. Russell Arnold's throw to the bowler's end was right on the mark. Worse was to follow. Skipper Sourav Ganguly cut Fernando straight to Arnold at point. The Indians had made a disastrous start. The third wicket pair of Dravid and Laxman added 56 runs to raise visions of a comeback but just when he seemed to be getting into his stride, Dravid, driving at a Fernando delivery, only succeeded in chopping the ball on to his stumps. India was 61 for three at this stage.

V.V.S. Laxman produced a few spanking cover drives off Chaminda Vaas before he flicked off-spinner Kumara Dharmasena into the hands of Jayawardene at mid-wicket.

Yuveraj may have scripted a remarkable recovery in the earlier game against Lanka, however, there were no heroics from him this time around. He drew back to cut a straighter one from Arnold and was castled. Hemang Badani was run out the next ball. The match was virtually over at this point.

Sodhi made his exit trying to card off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan only to see his stumps rearranged.

It was all over when Sameer Dighe's nick was taken by keeper Kaluwitharana. The Indians had been humiliated in the final again.

There was more joy for the full house when Sanath Jayasuriya was named `Man of the Series' and took home the Mitsubishi Lancer car that was at stake and Russel Arnold was `Man of the match'.

On a day when the Indian bowling and fielding appeared decidedly flat, Sri Lanka, powered by a rollicking 99 by skipper Jayasuriya set the visitor an uphill target of 296.

It was a vital toss to win for the Lankans, since chasing under light at the Premadasa Stadium is not the easiest task in the world. The host had begun on the right note and the skipper did much for the team by producing a typical innings dotted with trade mark short-arm cut and pulls besides those telling drives on either side of the wicket.

The skipper may have fallen one short of a well- deserved hundred and it was a sparkling effort and so much depended on him from Lanka's perspective. He did not succumb to a burden of expectations. The dangerous southpaw begun by swinging left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra to the fence and then exploded in the sixth over punching Zaheer to the cover fence and following that with a whiplash pull. However, he was lucky to survive earlier, when a miscued pull of Zaheer fell just out of the reach of keeper Sameer Dighe who was desperately running backward.

In a high-pressure game, the Lankans required a bright start and Jayasuriya and Gunawardene - the Lankan thinktank wisely preferring the left-hander to Kumara Sangakkara, who was being wasted down the order anyway - did not leave the vociferous home fans disappointed, with some powerful strokeplay. Gunawardene might have been chancy with his method - an edged four of Zaheer that flew between Dighe and Laxman at slip being the case in point - but he surely deserves his place in a one-day line-up and did proceed to thump both Nehra and Zaheer to the cover fence.

The 50-run mark was reached in just 7.4 overs with the Indian pacemen, who tended to provide both width and length to the batsmen coming under the hammer. Gunawardene (34, 31b, 5x4) was looking good for more when he was foxed by a quicker delivery from Harbhajan Singh that straightened into him, even as he shaped to cut. The left-hander was palpably in front. The opening pair had raised 71 of only 65 balls.

Jayasuriya cut loose at this stage, disdainfully lofting Nehra over covers, giving Sehwag the treatment when the one-day off- spinner was introduced, and reaching his half-century off 47 balls (9x4). The opening bursts of Zaheer 4-0-30-0 and Nehra 6-0- 42-0 told their own story. Marvan Atapattu (5) produced an exquisite cover drive off Harbhajan, the ball racing to the fence on the fast outfield, but made the folly of playing back to a delivery that was not quite short in length and pushed Sehwag straight into Ganguly's hands at mid-off.

Indians could have soon got the Lankan skipper, however, Jayasuriya on 67 then, escaped narrowly as he lofted Yuveraj over a leaping Zaheer at long-off, the fielder not in the right position to hold the catch.

At the other end, Mahela Jayawardene batted with a lot of commonsense, ticking his ones and twos with panache and watching Jayasuriya do the damage with bigger blows. After 25 overs, the Lankans were 149-2 and this suggested that the runs were coming at a good clip. With Jayasuriya around, this was only to be expected. Given the fact, that the Lankan middle order has tended to crumble in the tournament, the 104-run partnership (119 balls) between Jayasuriya and Jayawardene was a significant one.

The threat from Harbhajan Singh - the ace offie's first spell read 6-0-18-1, superb in the contest of the game - was seen off by the two and the rest of the attack was easy picking really on this day.

However, as Jayasuriya marched towards his century, every stroke cheered by the crowd, he was afflicted by cramps. Atapattu re- entered the ground, this time as his captains runner. There was a roar when the Lankans eased past 200 (34.4 overs) and even a bigger cheer was around the corner when Jayasuriya was on 99. One witnessed stunned silence when the Lankan superstar attempted to flick Sehwag for his 100th run, got a leading edge and Ganguly at short mid-wicket did the rest. Nevertheless, Jayasuriya's 99 (102b, 11x4) has been a wonderful contribution in a big game.

Jayawardene 57 (80, 2x4) departed 14 runs later attempting to reverse-sweep Harbhajan, who was back for his second spell, being struck right in front. The end was tame, yet it was a fine innings for most part.

With wickets and overs in hand, the Lankan onslaught towards the end was quick breath-taking really, with surprise of surprises, the dashing Romesh Kaluwitharana 31 not out (32b, 2x4) actually playing second-fiddle to the more-limited Arnold 52 (45b, 6x4). Arnold might be a limited cricketer, yet that's exactly his strength. The left-hander took his time before launching into a barrage of cuts, flicks and glances, Zaheer and Nehra coming under the line of fire. The fine-leg was up and Arnold beat the fielder repeatedly with Zaheer not quite operating to his field and when he launched into a cut against Nehra, he invariably found the gap.

The fifth-wicket pair raised 78 in 63 balls and the final five overs fetched a whopping 48 runs. Zaheer had Arnold caught by Ganguly at mid-wicket off the last ball of the innings but by then the damage had been done.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA

S. Jayasuriya c Ganguly b Sehwag                 99
(102b, 11x4)
A. Gunawardene lbw b Harbhajan                   34
(31b, 5x4)
M. Atapattu c Ganguly b Sehwag                    5
(11b, 1x4)
M. Jayawardene lbw b Harbhajan                   57
(80b, 2x4)
R. Arnold c Ganguly b Khan                       52
(45b, 6x4)
R. Kaluwitharana (not out)                       31
(32b, 2x4)
Extras (lb-8, w-8, nb-1)                         17


                                                ---
Total (for five wkts. in 50 overs)              295
                                                ---

Fall  of  wickets: 1-71 (Gunawardene),  2-100  (Atapattu),  3-204 
(Jayasuriya), 4-218 (Jayawardene), 5-295 (Arnold).

India  bowling:  Khan 8-0-58-1 (1w),  Nehra  9-0-65-0,  Harbhajan 
Singh 10-0-29-2 (2w), Sehwag 9-0-58-2 (1nb, 3w), Ganguly  4-0-20- 
0, Yuveraj Singh 10-0-57-0 (1w).

INDIA

S. Ganguly c Arnold b Fernando                   1
(7b)
V. Sehwag (run out)                              4
(4b, 1x4)
V.V.S. Laxman c Jayawardene b Dharmasena        37
(51b, 5x4)
R. Dravid b Fernando                            21
(36b, 2x4)
H. Badani (run out)                             22
(38b, 1x4, 1x6)
Yuveraj Singh b Arnold                           6
(6b, 1x4)
R. Sodhi b Muralitharan                          7
(15b, 1x4)
S. Dighe c Kaluwitharana b Vaas                 23
(63b)
Harbhajan Singh c Arnold b Muralitharan         15
(28b, 1x4)
Z. Khan b Vaas                                  16
(33b, 1x4, 1x6)
A. Nehra (not out)                               2
(10b)
Extras (lb-6, w-7, nb-7)                        20

                                               ---
Total (all out in 47.2 overs)                  174
                                               ---

Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Sehwag), 2-5 (Ganguly), 3-61 (Dravid), 4-91 
(Laxman),  5-100 (Yuveraj Singh), 6-100 (Badani), 7-114  (Sodhi), 
8-136 (Harbhajan Singh), 9-169 (Khan).

Sri Lanka bowling: Vaas 9.2-2-41-2 (1nb, 1w), Fernando  10-2-32-2 
(6nb,  2w), Dharmasena 8-0-33-1 (2w), Jayasuriya 3-0-9-0,  Arnold 
7-1-21-1, Muralitharan 10-1-32-2 (1w).

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