India vs Srilanka – Final, Tri-Series 2013 - Report

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Returning to play in the Celkon Mobile Cup 2013 final against Sri Lanka, MS Dhoni led India to the title with a trademark six by attaining the 202-run target. Despite losing partners at regular intervals, the India captain held up one end and struck two sixes and a boundary in the last over to take India to a one-wicket win at the Queen’s Park Oval in a close encounter.  (Also Read: India vs Sri Lanka - Final, Tri-Series 2013 - Statistical Highlights)
After asking SL to bat first, Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed both openers, but Kumar Sangakkara (71) and Lahiru Thirimanne (46) carefully rebuilt the innings to set SL on course for a competitive total. However, while attempting to accelerate the run-rate, Thirimanne fell to Ishant Sharma. With a foot in the door after Sangakkara’s dismissal, the Indians forced their way to warp up the SL innings for 201. The spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja struck at regular intervals, and bagged two and four wickets respectively. (Also Read: I am blessed with good cricketing sense: MS Dhoni)
Rohit Sharma then led the chase with a watchful 58. However, his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli got out in quick succession early on. At 27 for two, Dinesh Karthik joined Rohit in the middle and the duo played watchfully to stitch a valuable partnership. Their stand ended for 50 with Karthik offering a catch to Mahela Jayawardene – who was playing his 400th ODI – at first slip off Rangana Herath. (Also See: Images: India vs Sri Lanka - Final, Tri-Series 2013)
Joining forces with Suresh Raina, Rohit continued to play watchfully and carried the innings forward. But with India 63 short of the target, Herath dislodged the opener’s bails. Six run later, Suranga Lakmal followed up with the wicket of Raina, while Herath trapped Jadeja and Ashwin lbw couple of overs later off consecutive deliveries to leave India on 152 for seven.
With the match precariously poised, Bhuvneshwar Kumar joined Dhoni in the middle. But Malinga ended his 14-ball stay at the crease for naught. With 35 more required in difficult conditions, Vinay Kumar took guard. But after adding five runs in a 15-run partnership, he skied a Mathews delivery that was safely pouched at short thirdman.
With 20 required off 20 balls, Ishant Sharma came to the crease. With singles hard to come by, the required run-rate creeping up and only one wicket in hand, the pressure on the last Indian pair was mounting. Then with 15 runs required from the final over, Dhoni teed off against Eranaga. After missing the first ball, he hit the next one into the stands over the bowler’s head, and followed it up with a boundary. He then took Team India to a famous one-wicket victory with a six over extra cover off the next ball.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 201 all-out in 48.5 overs (K Sangakkara 71, L Thirimanne 46; R Jadeja 4/23, B Kumar 2/24)lost to India 203/9 in 49.4 overs (R Sharma 58, MS Dhoni 45*, R Herath 4/20) by 1 wicket
Man of the Match: MS Dhoni for his match-winning 45 off 52 balls
Man of the Series: Bhuvneshwar Kumar for claiming ten wickets in four matches at an average of 9.70

Presentation
MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli accept the winners trophy (after the presenter had forgotten about it).

MS Dhoni is the Man of the Match.
"I think I am blessed with a bit of good cricketing sense," says MS Dhoni. "15 players have been very good on the field and that is a good sign. The opposition bowler was not the most experienced in that last over unlike Malinga, so I thought i would take my chances. I went with a heavy bat, the weight was perfect for slogging."

Rohit Sharma gets an award for being the most trusted player. "I am really happy with the way we performed," he says. "The wicket was not easy to play shots, I wanted to delay my shots and wanted to stay as long as possible in the middle. (In the last over) We have seen Dhoni doing it over and over again, so it was not so much of a surprise."

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the Player of the Series. He gets a quad-bike to rule the the mean streets of Meerut.

"It was a great game, the bowlers showed a lot of character to defend 200,"saysAngelo Mathews. "Sanga and Thirimanne batted really well, but we lost momentum after that. Had we played till the end, we could have pushed it to 230-240 and that wuould have been enough. Herath bowled really well to bring us back into the game, but Dhoni is always a dangerous batsman. We played a good tournament throughout, didn't win the title, but the players showed a lot of character."

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