COLOMBO, Aug 23: Sheer bad luck this time. India were denied a possible victory and a chance to redeem themselves on this disastrous tour as the third one-day international match at the SSC grounds here on Saturday was abandoned due to bad light. The match will be replayed on Sunday.Sri Lanka needed 63 runs in 36 balls with four wickets in hand when umpires K T Francis and T M Samarasinghe deemed the light unfit and called off the match even as the Indians wanted to continue.The Indian camp was understandably upset as they felt the light was enough for Lankans to play 25 overs and obtain a result. "The remaining six overs could definitely have been played, because the light improved even as the players were walking off," said the Indian manager Ramakant Shetty said.India's respectable 291, aided by Robin Singh's first one-day century and Rahul Dravid's 78, proved futile at the end of the day and captain Sachin Tendulkar was visibly unhappy with the decision of the umpires.The Sri Lankans, rested their three main bowlers Chaminda Vaas, Sajeewa De Silva and Muttiah Murlitharan. But even their second string new ball attack, Ravindra Pushpakumara and Dulip Liyanage, were good enough to removed openers Saurav Ganguly (14) and Sachin Tendulkar (27) by the tenth over.Robin Singh, who hit his maiden one-day century, and Rahul Dravid (78) put on 162 runs and at one stage it looked India may well go past 300 but after Singh's dismissal, the wickets fell cheaply and in a heap. Off-spinner Aravinda de Silva struck to take three, while careless running between the wickets cost India three other batsmen.For the statistically inclined, Mohammed Azharuddin joined Desmond Haynes (8,648) and Javed Miandad (7,381) as one of only three batsmen in the world to reach 7,000 runs in one-day cricket with his innings of 34 runs.Before the match was called off, the hosts were set a shortened target of 195 after rain interrupted play twice during the match. Only one ball was played between the two interruptions in the seventh over of the Sri Lankan innings. A drizzle caused the first halt of 30 minutes in the seventh over, and within minutes of resumption of play, a sharp shower brought out the covers once again, this time for an hour and 12 minutes.When play resumed once again, Sri Lanka were 80 off 46 balls and looked strong with openers Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu steering the innings. Before the interruption, Jayasuriya had hitting 50 off 25 balls, but was caught by Dravid for 68 off a delivery by Kuruvilla in the 10th over. His knock included four sixes and six boundaries.Jayasuriya, who has scored 773 runs in his last six innings against the Indians on this tour, smashed Rajesh Chauhan for 23 runs in his fifth over and that set the early pace. But after his dismissal, Sri Lanka seemed slower, a wet outfield not helping their cause. Though Aravinda de Silva held down one end, four wickets fell quickly for 37 runs. But it was only when de Silva played a Robin Singh delivery straight into Prasad's hands that the sun really shone for India. However play was called off soon thereafter with Sri Lanka 132 for 6 and Ruwan Kalpage and Upul Chandana the batsmen not out.Singh had a fine match, adding three wickets for 20 runs from four overs to the fine century he scored earlier. The Indian side had effected just one change in the team, replacing Anil Kumble with Nilesh Kulkarni. ScoreboardIndia: S Ganguly c Mahanama b Pushpakumara 14; S Tendulkar c Ranatunga b Liyange 27; R Singh c Pushpakumara b Dharmasena 100; R Dravid c Kalpage b A de Silva 78; M Azharuddin b A de Silva 34; A Jadeja st L de silva b A de Silva 6; N Mongia run out 1; R Chauhan run out 2; A Kuruvila run out 4; N Kulkarni not out 4; Venkatesh prasad not out 2; Extras 19 (lb-6, w-12, nb-1)Total (for 9 wkts in 50 overs): 291Fall of wkts: 1-30, 2-44, 3-206, 4-268, 5-273, 6-274, 7-278, 8-281, 9-288Bowling: Pushpakumara 6-0-47-1, Liyanage 7-0-26-1; Dharmasena 9-0-51-1, Kalpage 6-0-44-0, Jayasuriya 9-0-40-0, Chandana 3-0-22-0, A de Silva 10-0-55-3Sri Lanka: S Jayasuriya c dravid b kuruvila 68; M Atapattu run out 21; A de Silva c Prasad b Singh 22; A Ranatunga c Chauhan b Singh 0, R Mahanama c Dravid b Singh 8; R Kalpage c & b Kulkarni 1; L de Silva n.o 6; U Chandana n.o 0; Extras: 6 (lb-2, w-3, nb-1)Total (for 6 wkts in 19 overs, tie abandoned) 132Fall of wkts: 1-85, 2-96, 3-97, 4-116, 5-112, 6-132Bowling: Chauhan 3-0-31-0; Kuruvila 5-0-43-1, Prasad 3-0-21-0, Kulkarni 4-1-15-1, Singh 4-0-20-3
