After tasting a bitter defeat of 200 runs against kiwis in the opener of the triangular series in Sri Lanka men in blue were desperate to make a strong statement at Dambulla with their performance through today’s India vs. Sri Lanka encounter. This India vs. Sri Lanka match was a do or die match for Indian team from every aspect. So today men in blue came into the ground with the purpose of restoring her lost esteem in the heart of everybody and result of today’s India vs. Sri Lanka clash speaks about it loudly.
Both India Vs Sri Lanka met each other at Dambulla today. In the starting of the match coin fell in the favor of Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara. After winning the coin toss Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara gave the master key of the match in the hands of the Indian team by committing a foolhardy of batting first on this very damp and grassy pitch with sky overcast with very dark clouds,. His decision turned out to be a tonic that Indian team really needed for getting a new life or in other words we can say that he gave Indian team a cylinder of oxygen to survive and come out of deep water by batting first.
After being given a gift in free Indian bowlers went all guns blazing at Sri Lankan team right from the word go. Today at the start of the match Indian team punished the Sri Lankan team for the mistake committed by their skipper Sangakkara and got on their nerves as pacer Praveen Kumar removed Sri Lankan opener Upul Tharanga on 0 on the very first ball of the match with a red hot and fantastic Yorker bang on target. After making her intentions clear Indian team did not relax here. After the removal of Uupul Tharanga Sri Lanka had not recovered yet at all when Indian quickies Ashish Nehra and Praveen Kumar put completely Sri Lanka on the back foot by giving two more huge jolts in the shape of skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jaywardene .Sangakkara made only 2 runs and Jaywardene also followed the footprints of his skipper and did not trouble the scorers much. Mahela Jaywardene made only 4 runs. This was not enough for healing the wounds of injured lion on the hunt. After removing breaking these two legs of Sri Lankan team Ishant Sharma broke the spine of the Sri Lankan team by removing the Thillan Samraveera just on 7 runs.
So far Sri Lankan team was looking for a shelter to hide somewhere at the score of 44/4. But the biggest jolt came for Sri Lankan team when Tilakratne Dilshan also got out on 45. When he got out the score was 82/5. With the fall of Dilshan’s wicket last all the hopes of recovery for Sri Lanka dashed to the ground.
Today wickets kept on tumbling from both the ends. Bowlers had a chance to do dance on a chance on this surface. That is what Indian bowlers did in the match today right from the word go. Indian bowlers today made entire Sri Lankan team dance to their tunes. They troubled and got rid of the entire Sri Lankan batsman at will in the match.
By the score of 103 entire top and middle order had been sent back to the pavilion to pick up their phone calls that they had put on hold.
But thanks to timely 43 by all rounder Suraj Randiv down the order that saved the skin of Sri Lankan team. Randiv’s knock and defiance by the tail provided some respectability to the total of Sri Lankan team and took it to 170.
For India Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Ravinder Jadeja bagged 2 wickets each whereas Ashish Nehra got only 1 wicket. But spinner Pragyan Ojha bagged 3 wickets in his 9.1 overs at the cost of 36 runs only.
Now Sri Lankan bowlers had something to bowl at Indians. After making 170 runs on the board Sri Lanka also gave some jitters to the Indian team at the top by removing opener Dinesh Kartik on 10. But this was not enough for hungry Sri Lankan tigers as they scalped two more wickets of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli scored a big round 0 each. But Delhi Daredevil Virender Sehwag kept quite and held one end. But now he got the company of Suresh Riana who also fell shortly after making 21 runs. So far Indian team was tottering at 91/4.
On end wickets were kept on tumbling so far and on the hand Nazafgarh Nawaab got back in his real color and scored his half century. Although Virender Sehwag remained quite today but he remained quite purpose fully. By the time Sri Lanka tried to fight Virender Sehwag ate the hopes of Sri Lanka of wining this match like a termite Virender sehwag took the team India home safely in the company of skipper Mahender Singh Dhoni in 34.3 overs with 15.3 overs to spare. In this way Indian team won this match by 6 wickets.
For India Dictator Virender Sehwag once again dictated terms but in the opposite style and remained unbeaten on 99 runs in 100 balls. In his innings he hit 11 swashbuckling boundaries and two giant size sixes while skipper Dhoni remained unbeaten on 18 runs in 38 balls.
For Sri Lanka Angelo Mathews and Dilhara Fernando scalped 2 wickets each.
For his memorable innings of 99* at Dambulla Nazafgarh Nawaab bagged the award of man of the match.
Now this win against Sri Lanka has not only restored the lost confidence of Indian players after a humiliating defeat of 200 runs against New Zealand but it also has won India a bonus point. So with this win in today’s ind Vs Sri Lanka do or die encounter Indian team has kept its hopes of making to the final of the tournament alive strongly.