India lose a nail-biter by two runs

Putting Sri Lanka into bat appeared to be the right decision by Tendulkar despite their big score as the Indian reply, led by the skipper himself, got off to a flying start with the first 50 runs coming off just 38 balls.

But then a sudden collapse occured due to lack of concentration and some hard luck and India were tottering at 64 for four.

It was then that Azharuddin, in great nick on the current tour, and Jadeja, fighting to retain his place in the side, took command of the game with masterly knocks and in the process creating a new world record for the fifth wicket stand of 223 runs.

Azhar (111 not out) and Jadeja (119) led the gallant fightback but the team failed to snatch the match out of Sri Lanka’s hands when it needed nine runs in the final over.

Azharuddin and Jadeja struck their career best hundreds on their way to the fifth-wicket stand which broke the earlier record of 159 set by Australians Michael Bevan and Ricky Ponting against Sri Lanka in the 1995-96 series.But Jadeja could not take India to victory as he fell caught and bowled to Vaas in the 48th over.

The final over was as dramatic as India’s fightback. It saw two wickets fall and Azharuddin, who remained not out on 111 was left to score five runs off the final ball for a win. Two runs came from his bat into the covers which sealed all chances the tourists had.

Sanath Jayasuriya, as elegant with the bat so with the ball, bowled the final over with India needing nine for victory.

Nayan Mongia, who came at the fall of Jadeja, was run out off the first ball. In came Rajesh Chauhan and took a single from the second and Azhar took another from the third.

Chauhan was out off the fourth and now India needed seven runs from two balls. Azhar took a couple again off the penultimate delivery and got two off the last thus failing in his heroic effort.

Earlier, the hosts reached a mammoth 302 for four thanks to their openers Maravan Atapattu, who cracked his maiden one-day hundred (118) and Sanath Jayasuriya, who blazed to 73 (52b, 10×4, 2×6) as the two shared a 91-run partnership to lay the foundation of a huge Sri Lankan total.

India’s gameplan to open the bowling with off-spinner Rajesh Chauhan worked succesfully till the bowler’s first five overs, in which he conceded just 16 runs.

But once Jayasuriya shifted gears, runs started to flow.

Roshan Mahanama, who was promoted up the order ahead of in-form Aravinda de Silva, looked in an unusually belligerent form as he, along with Atapattu, continued to keep the scoring-rate around six runs per over.

Atapattu and Mahanama (53; 58b, 3×4, 1×6) shared a 108-run partnership for the second wicket before Mahanama holed out to Ajay Jadeja off Robin Singh.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA: S Jayasuriya b Prasad 73, M Atapattu run out 118, R Mahanama c Jadeja b R Singh 53, A de Silva c Kumble b Prasad 34, A Ranatunga not out 8, H Tillkeratne not out 0, Extras: (lb-7 w-6 nb-3) 16; Total: (for four wickets, in 50 overs) 302

Fall of wkts: 1-91, 2-199, 3-279, 4-300

Bowling: Chauhan 10-0-64-0, Kuruvila 9-0-59-0, Prasad 9-0-50-2, Kumble 8-0-50-0, Tendulkar 5-0-28-0, Singh 9-0-44-1

INDIA: S Tendulkar c Muralitharan b Vaas 27, S Ganguly run out 31, R Singh c L de Silva b Vaas 1, R Dravid run out 1, Md Azharuddin not out 111, A Jadeja c & b Vaas 119, N Mongia run out 1, R Chauhan c Mahanama b Jayasuriya 1, A Kumble not out 0, Extras: (b2, lb3, w2, nb1) 8; Total: (for seven wickets, in 50 overs) 300

Fall of wickets: 1-58, 2-59, 3-61, 4-64, 5-287, 6-294, 7-296

Bowling: Vaas 10-0-63-3, S de Silva 8-0-49-0, Pushpakumara 10-0-40-0, Muralitharan 9-0-51-0, Jayasuriya 7-0-53-1, A de Silva 2-0-14-0, A Ranatunga 4-0-25-0