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

By Admin
India-Won-Tri-Series-2013

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."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Story behind Yusuf Pathan jersey No. '999'

By Admin
Image
Like in life, in sports too there are people who remain an enigma. At least to those who watch them from the outside. They fascinate and frustrate in equal measures. At times, one feels they are surviving on their reputation and not its execution. But these enigmatic geniuses often find someone who understands their worth, who believes in them as much as they believe in themselves. Yusuf Pathan is an enigma. Everyone knows of his supreme leather-pounding power and they love him for that. But to their dismay they don’t see that skill being converted into runs. But those close to him and his team mates see what others can’t. His Kolkata Knight Riders skipper, Gautam Gambhir, surely does.  Questions have been raised about Pathan’s place in the KKR Playing XI since the beginning of the 2012 IPL. And with every low score against his name, they have gotten louder. In IPL 2013, Pathan has played three matches so far and scored 18*, 0 and 27.  They’re not big scores but they’
Read more

Rohit Sharma 264 Runs - Report: India vs Sri Lanka, 4th ODI, Eden Gardens, Kolkata

By Admin
Image
Propelled by Rohit Sharma’s magnificent double-century, India marched to a 153-run win in Kolkata. While Eden Gardens celebrated 150 years, Rohit lit-up the stadium with a well paced 264 off 173 to make the occasion memorable. In doing so, he etched his name in the history books by posting the highest individual score in ODI cricket and became the only batsman to post two double hundreds in the 50-over format till date. It was breathtaking knock by the opener that set-up the match for India. The hosts then bowled the visitors out for 251 to take a 4-0 lead in the series.  (Also Read:  Rohit Sharma 264 Runs - Stats: India vs Sri Lanka, 4th ODI ) Post by Indian Cricket Team Updates . Coming out to open with Ajinkya Rahane after India elected to bat, Rohit made the Sri Lankans regret the missed chance to send him back when he was batting on four. The opener taking the aerial route was dropped by Thisara Perera at third-man.  Having received a life, Rohit who was back in the
Read more

INDIA v PAKISTAN 1ST ODI ᴴᴰ FULL HIGHLIGHTS, CHENNAI, 30 DEC 2012

By Admin
Image
FULL HD HIGHLIGHTS INDIA v PAKISTAN 1ST ODI, CHENNAI, 30 DEC 2012. Man-of-the-Match: MS Dhoni  for his 113-run knock that helped India set up a competitive total Brief scores: India   227/6 in 50 overs  (MS Dhoni 113*, S Raina 43, R Ashwin 31*, J Khan 4/43) lost to  Pakistan 228/4 in 48.1 overs  (N Jamshed 101*, Y Khan 58, S Malik 34*, B Kumar 2/27) by six wickets   Nasir Jamshed:   "It was a tough start when we lost Hafeez off the first ball, but we played out the tough period and now we are confident in this series." Misbah-ul-Haq:  "It was really good toss to win and the spell by Junaid Khan was very good. He has done it before in a Test match in Sri Lanka. Good to see that the bowlers pitched in the right areas in helping conditions. There was a change in the nature of the pitch. It was more difficult to play in the first half, very well played by Dhoni. But Nasir played an extremely good knock and showed the way by finishing the game. Humidity
Read more