Capton Jadeja leads Indian march to final

The Lankan demise in the Pepsi Tri-series today renders the last league encounter at Mohali of academic interest, as both India and Pakistan are now assured of their places in the final.

In a match of copious gains, the most significant was the arrival of Khurasia on the international stage. India, playing without Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammed Azharuddin, had lost Sadagoppan Ramesh, Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly whenKhurasia walked into a potential crisis in the 32nd over. With only the all-rounders behind him, Khurasia had a tough ask in helping Jadeja in the salvage operations. But looking more like a seasoned campaigner than a debutant, he stroked at will to all parts of the Nehru Stadium.

His first note of aggression was a lofted straight drive of Mahela Jayawardene followed by an on-drive off Lankan pace spearhead Chaminda Vaas. But his best was reserved for Upul Chandana, whom he hoicked for successive sixes over mid-wicket. Khurasia8217;s 35-ball innings of 57 should assure him of his place in the side for the World Cup.

Jadeja, who had shown the patience of a monk, changed his avtaar at the right time. With butcher-like savagery, he took three fours in the 44th over, bowled by Jayawardene, and then hoisted Eric Upashanta and Ruwan Kalpage over mid-wicket for sixes. He moved from 50 to his fifth century in One-Day Internationals in 25 balls with four boundaries and two sixes.

The inexperience of theLankan abetted the Indian cause. They gave far too much width to strike. Towards the later stage of the Lankan misery, skipper Ranatunga just gave up on advising his bowlers. There was no Muralitharan, Jayasuriya or Dharmasena and with Pramodaya Wickremasinghe bowling an eight-over first spell, Ranatunga was reduced to sheer helplessness in the end-over Indian festivity.

It was only the second time the India team was playing without either Tendulkar or Azhar. There was thus pressure on their batting. But like at Nagpur, Ganguly tormented the Lankans. A six to the straight field off Kalpage being the pick of his gems. The foundation the Bengal left-hander gave at the top was important, though it was overshadowed by the end-overs blast.

The Lankans never looked in any hope of providing a serious challenge to the asking rate of 5.74 at the start, once the aggressive Avishka Gunawardene and the classy Maravan Atapattu were packed off by the Indian new ball bowlers with just 21 on the board.

The Lankanmisery would have been more acute had Javagal Srinath not overstepped the mark to miss the opportunity to dismiss Aravinda de Silva, who prospered to complete 8000 in ODIs. Later, Agarkar had Jayawardena nicking behind the wickets, only to find himself being no-balled. The top two scores of the Lankan innings were on single figures when they enjoyed the escapes.

A feature of the Indian effort was their fielding. Nothing exemplified this better than two brilliant run outs off successive balls that nipped the fleeting resistance put up by Aravinda and Ranatunga.

First, Nayan Mongia collected a low and disconcerting return from Nikhil Chopra to thwart Aravinda8217;s attempt to steal a cheeky run and then Robin Singh Sr came up with an even better effort. Out-sprinting non-striker Ranatunga on his follow-through, Robin ran to gather a dab in front of the wicket. He picked up the ball with his back to the striking end, swivelled around and broke the middle stump in falling motion. Two prize wickets in successiveballs hastened the Lankan end.

And as the Indians capped a memorable day in the Pepsi Championship all one could say was, Yeh dil maange more.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA

Rahul Dravid c Ranatunga b Upashanta 29m, 15b, 3215;4 17

Ajay Jadeja not out 148m, 102b, 6215;4, 3215;6 103

Amay Khurasia c Chandana b Wickramasinghe 67m, 45b, 4215;4, 2215;6 57

Robin Singh Sr c Tillekeratne b Wickramasinghe 2m, 1b 0

Ajit Agarkar c sub Arnold b Vaas 3m, 3b 1

Nayan Mongia not out 6 5m, 4b, 1215;4.

Extras: lb7, nb1, w5: 13

Total for 6 wickets in 50 overs: 286

Fall Of Wickets: 1-43 Ramesh 10.5, 2-65 Dravid, 16.5, 3-143 Ganguly, 31.5, 4-267 Khurasia, 47.1, 5-272 Robin, 47.4, 6-277 Agarkar 48.4

Bowling: Vaas 10-1-53-1, Wickramasinghe 10-1-38-2, Upashanta 10-1-52-2 w2, Kalpage 6-0-44-0 nb1, Chandana 8-0-46-1 w2, Jayawardena 6-0-46-0 w1

Partnerships

78 in 90 balls for the third wicket between Saurav Ganguly and Ajay Jadeja

124 in 92 balls forthe fourth wicket between Jadeja and Amay Khurasia.

Sri Lanka

Avishka Gunawardene c Kumble b Srinath 23m, 22b, 2215;4 10

Marvan Atapattu c Ganguly b Agarkar 30m, 12b, 1215;4 6

Mahela Jayawardena c Mongia b Robin 62m, 34b, 3215;4 30

Aravinda de Silva run out Chopra-Mongia 121m, 78b, 5215;4 55

Chaminda Vaas c sub Kanitkar b Robin 8m, 5b 0

Arjuna Ranatunga run out Robin 58m, 40b, 2215;4 25

Upul Chandana c Jadeja b Agarkar 33m, 23b, 3215;4 22

Hashan Tillekaratne not out 64m, 39b, 1215;4 28

Ruwan Kalpage c Mongia b Srinath 20m, 17b 13

Eric Upashanta c Mongia b Srinath 9m, 10b, 2215;4, 1215;6 15

Pramodaya Wickramasinghe b Kumble 2 5m, 7b

Extras: b2, lb6, nb11, w10 29

Total all out in 45.5 overs: 235

Fall Of Wickets: 1-20 Gunawardene, 4.3, 2-21 Atapattu, 5.5, 3-78 Jayawardene, 16.5, 4-84 Vaas, 18.3, 5-146 Aravinda, 30.4, 6-146 Ranatunga, 30.5, 7-185 Chandana, 37.5, 8-214 Kalpage, 42.3, 9-231 Upashanta, 44.2

Bowling: Srinath10-1-44-2 4w, 3nb, Agarkar 10-0-35-2 4w, 4nb Kumble 7.5-0-31-1, Chopra 6-0-53-0 1w, Robin 10-0-45-2, Ganguly 4-0-19-0

Partnership: 62 in 74 balls for the fifth wicket between Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga

Result: India won by 51 runs

Man of the match: Ajay Jadeja

Points position

Pakistan four points from three matches, India 4 from three matches and Sri Lanka 2 from four matches.