India on Wednesday recorded their first-ever bilateral ODI series triumph against Sri Lanka in their backyard as they spanked the hosts by 46 runs in the fourth cricket one-dayer here today to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.
After putting a competitive target of 259 before the Lankans, Indian bowlers skittled out the hosts for 212 in 46.3 overs.
With this win India pocketed the five-match series with one match to spare which is scheduled for Friday and avenged their Test series drubbing.
The Indian bowlers had their task cut out right from the word go as Munaf Patel (2/48) once again impressed with the new ball, scalping the first two wickets. Malinda Warnapura (0) was the first man to go without scoring after he was caught in front of the wicket by Munaf. However, TV replays showed the ball might have gone over the stumps.
Out-of-form Kumar Sangakkara (6), dropped to the No 3 position following his woeful run in the tournament, failed once again as he played on a Munaf delivery.
However, veteran Sanath Jayasuriya (60 of 52 balls) was at his explosive best and with skipper Mahela Jayawardene (16) he put up a crucial 74-run stand for the fourth wicket to steady the Lankan innings.
Jayasuriya’s dominance can be gauged from the fact that in the 74-run partnership, Jayawardene contributed only six runs.
However, an important bowling change by Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the 17th over, bringing in offie Harbhajan Singh (3/40) in place of Praveen Kumar, saw Jayasuriya’s downfall.
In the third ball of his first over, Harbhajan picked up the crucial wicket of Jayasuriya after the Lankan edged a turner and Suresh Raina made no mistake in the first slip and reacted sharply to pounce on the opportunity. The Lankan’s received yet another blow when in-form Jayawrdene was caught short off the crease by Kohli following a terrible mix up with Chamara Kapugedera (30) to reel the hosts at 106 for 4 in 24.3 overs.
Most of the Lankan middle-order batsmen got a start but failed to capitalise on that and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Next to go was Tilakratne Dilshan (12), who was wrapped on the pads by Harbhajan in his seventh over which brought an end to his 25-run stand with Kapugedera, thereby exposing the Lankan tail.
Four overs later, Kapugedera followed suit after he was caught in front of the wicket by Yuvraj (2/53).
The Indian vice-captain made up for his batting failure with the ball as Vaas became his second victim. The Lankan pacer feel lbw to Yuvraj.
Thilan Thushara, soon after his arrival, tried to turn the fortunes for the Lankans with his big hitting. He clubbed Yuvraj for two consecutive sixes in the 38th over and made a quickfire 40 off 29 balls and was the last man to depart, caught by Raina off Zaheer Khan (1/27).
Dhoni’s bowling changes seemed to work wonders for the visitors, as after being brought back into the attack, Harbhajan lured Nuwan Kulasekara with a doosra, only to see the Indian skipper completing an easy stumping. Earlier, Dhoni (71), Suresh Raina (76) and Virat Kohli (54) struck half centuries to post a competitive 258 on board despite a late collapse.
For the hosts, Thushara took five wickets for 47 runs as India lost their last seven wickets for just 34 runs to be skittled out in 49.4 overs.
Having slumped to 81 for three, Raina and Dhoni took control of the situation and judiciously mixed cheeky singles with big shots forcing Jayawardene to rework his strategies.
The duo had put on 143-run for the fifth to take the visitors to a comfortable position. They also did not allow mystery man Ajantha Mendis to get into a rhythm.
Raina and Dhoni were at their aggressive best as India raced to the 150 mark in 185 balls as the two decided to unnerve the Lankan bowlers.
In no time, Raina reached a well-deserved half century — his seventh — in 56 balls as he came down the track and lofted Muttiah Muralitharan to the extra cover boundary.
Dhoni got to his 50 in 60 balls and it included three boundaries. A visibly tired Raina then tried to hit Thushara over the long off and was caught by Nuwan Kulasekara, his 76 runs coming off 78 balls and included six boundaries and one six.
Dhoni, playing with a runner, followed suit, caught by Sanath Jayasuriya at covers off Thushara for a well-compiled 71 runs.
