India 294 for 7 (Gambhir 88, Tiwary 65, Dhoni 58, Malinga 3-64) beat Sri Lanka 274 (Thirimanne 77, Mendis 72, Irfan 5-61) by 20 runs
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It was a low-key series that was overshadowed by the Olympics, but it
resulted in a dramatic change in the rankings as India climbed up to No.
2 after shutting out Sri Lanka 4-1. India seemed to have the final
one-dayer in the bag after running up 294 and then reducing Sri Lanka to
102 for 5, but a spirited stand between the inexperienced Lahiru
Thirimanne and Jeevan Mendis kept the visitors sweating till the end.
Irfan Pathan more or less guaranteed the result in the 43rd over as he
removed Mendis and Thisara Perera on his way to his second ODI five-for,
capping a match in which he had already made an important contribution
with the bat. A late replacement for the injured Vinay Kumar, Irfan has
sealed his place as a bowling allrounder with his eight wickets at 26.37
and two vital performances with the bat.
He troubled Sri Lanka in his first over itself, getting Tillakaratne
Dilshan to hole out to third man. In the absence of the injured Kumar
Sangakkara and the resting Mahela Jayawardene - the first time in two
years that the pair were missing an ODI - Dilshan had a big role to
play, but fell for a duck.
Sri Lanka maintained a scorching pace early on, but lost their way once
Upul Tharanga chipped a catch to cover in the eighth over. Dinesh
Chandimal's forgettable series continued as he fell lbw to Ashok Dinda
for 8, Angelo Mathews' first innings as one-day captain was ended by a
direct hit from Manoj Tiwary, and Chamara Kapugedera wasted his
umpteenth international comeback, walking after an lbw appeal.
That looked like game, set and match India but Sri Lanka weren't done
yet. Thirimanne played his second responsible knock at No. 3 in five
days, and Jeevan Mendis continued to prompt questions over why he had
been offered such scattered opportunities with the national team so far
after another battling innings. The two patiently resurrected the
innings, and through some sensible cricket brought Sri Lanka back into
the game, and when the part-time spin of Manoj Tiwary was caned for 14
in the 34th over, Sri Lanka were 187 for 5. With the big-hitting Perera
still to come, they had a great chance of pulling off a consolation
comeback victory.
Smart stats |
Thirimanne, though, was run-out after a mix-up, and though Mendis kept
Sri Lanka afloat, Perera slugged a catch to deep point. When Mendis'
outstanding innings ended on 72 with a nick to the keeper off Irfan, Sri
Lanka's hopes evaporated.
India's top order gave a better account of themselves than Sri Lanka's.
There were half-centuries for Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni but the most
significant innings in the dead rubber could be Manoj Tiwary's 65. For
the second match in a row, he turned in a solid performance,
strengthening his credentials for a hotly contested spot in the India's
middle-order, most likely at the expense of Rohit Sharma.
Rohit, given a remarkably long rope by the team management, flopped for
the fifth game in a row; his tally of 13 runs in the series is the
lowest by a specialist India batsman in a five-match series and the
chorus for his axing is only going to get louder.
Tiwary's debut was famously delayed by a shoulder injury in 2007, and he
has had seven ODIs in the five years since. A match-winning century in
another dead rubber last December only led to a long spell on the bench,
but a four-for with some part-time leg spin in the previous match and a
steadying 110-run partnership with Gambhir should earn him a few
matches in the upcoming New Zealand series at home.
For the second time in three games, Malinga began an over in the batting
Powerplay with two wickets in two balls, as he removed Tiwary and then
the in-form Suresh Raina as India slid to 197 for 5. But, as in the
third ODI, Irfan showed off his improved batting, and gave the
specialist batsman enough of the strike to take apart the Sri Lanka
bowling. That day it had been Raina, today it was Dhoni, who has had
little to do in this series as players above him in the order have
repeatedly done the job for the side. Dhoni began by carving Malinga for
consecutive boundaries through cover and a typically busy innings,
interspersed with boundaries, helped India take 75 off the final 10
overs.
While Dhoni piloted India at the end, Gambhir did it at the start. Even
as Ajinkya Rahane failed to grab his chance, Virat Kohli had a rare
failure and Rohit's horror run extended, Gambhir was unperturbed. Once
again, he managed to score at almost a run a ball without seeming to
play any big hits as he made his way to his third fifty-plus score of
the series. He was closing in on his seventh ODI hundred against Sri
Lanka before he was done in by the extra bounce from Senanayake.
It didn't matter, though as Irfan and Dhoni powered India to a big
score, one which proved too tall for an inexperienced Sri Lanka line-up.
Siddarth Ravindran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: Siddarth Ravindran
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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