Shan’s Blog

Zaheer Khan gave a stunning exhibition of seam bowling to capture a career-best 5-42 as India recorded a comfortable five-wicket victory over SLanka in the third cricket one-dayer to restore the balance in the four-match series at Margao.
Zaheer, capped his dream comeback with a superb display to restrict the islanders to 230 for eight before captain Rahul Dravid (66) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (67 not out) stole the spotlight with a 133-run run fifth wicket partnership which helped the hosts overhaul the target with 21 balls to spare.

After the shock five-run defeat in Rajkot, the Indians looked far more convincing as they levelled the series 1-1 with a discplined bowling and batting performance in front of a capacity crowd at the Nehru stadium.

The hosts were pracariously placed at 35 for two at one stage with Virender Sehwag (12) failing yet again and Sachin Tendulkar (1) falling cheaply, but Dravid and Dhoni ensured that there were no further setbacks by taking the team very close to the target.

Sourav Ganguly maintained his impressive sequence of scores with an useful 48.

Russel Arnold was the top scorer for the Sri Lankans with an unbeaten 66 while Marvan Atapattu (42), Tillakaratne Dilshan (42) and Mahela Jayawardene (30) were the other notable performers after the visitors elected to bat on a track which provided some assistance to the quick bowlers in the morning.

The teams will now move to the port city of Visakhapatnam for the decider to be held on Saturday.

 

Dravid, needing 22 runs at the start of his 286th innings, became the sixth player in the world and the third from India after Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly to reach the 10,000-run landmark.

 

He hit four fours and a six in his 83-ball knock before he was unfortunately run out by backing up too far when Dhoni’s drive was deflected on to the stumps by leg spinner Malinga Bandara with India needing just four runs for victory.

 

Dhoni, struck four fours while remaining unconquered after facing 74 balls and the winning hit came from Dinesh Kartik, a straight drive off Nuwan Kulasekara in the 47th over.

 

The India skipper and Dhoni ensured that the mistakes made by the home team at Rajkot in the previous tie, when they lost by five runs from a winning position, were not repeated.

 

The duo’s crucial partnership brought up in a calm and assured manner helped India recover from a wobbly 94 for four in the 22nd over and win in front of a very noisy and capacity crowd of 30,000 at the Nehru Stadium.

 

Earlier, Zaheer Khan blasted out the Lankan top order in a sensational opening spell when he had 3-4 in his first three overs. He then returned in the closing stages to pick two more for his first ever five-wicket haul.

The visitors, like in the previous match, had a disastrous start when they were reduced to 6-3 and then 91-5 before recovering through a stout performance from the middle order after opting to bat first.

 

Arnold played a vital role in Sri Lanka’s fightback with an unbeaten 66 from 83 balls and shared a 89-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Tillekaratne Dilshan.

 

Captain Jayawardene combined with his predecessor Atapattu to repair the early damage by adding 76 runs for the fourth wicket.

 

Harbhajan Singh chipped in with 2-37 while Kumar Sangakkara, centurion at Rajkot, was out for a four-ball duck.

 

In the afternoon, the Indian run-chase commenced on a poor note when under-fire Sehwag, promoted to open the innings after flopping in the middle order at Rajkot in the previous tie, again flattered to deceive.

 

After hitting three fours off the meat of the bat the Delhi batsman, who the team captain feels is just one innings away from finding his touch, succumbed to his old failing to the short ball from Fernando that climbed to his chest which he fended awkwardly and ballooned to Dilshan at point.

 

Worse was to follow for the home team when Sachin Tendulkar, who has scored 100 not out and 54 in his two previous ODI innings, failed to prosper.

 

He dragged a ball on to his stumps when trying to drive Kulasekara and India were reduced to 35 for two after five overs, 13 of which had come in the first over from Farvez Maharoof who bowled four wides and was hit for two boundaries by Sehwag.

 

Sourav Ganguly looked once again in good touch and was hitting the ball fluently as wickets fell at the other end.

 

The Bengal stalwart off and square drove Maharoof for two successive fours in the bowler’s second over to banish him from the attack after a two-over spell.

 

He also got involved in the revival of the innings with another left-hander Yuvraj Singh, playing his first match of the series after recovering from back spasms, and the third wicket duo added 48 runs during the power plays in 11.3 overs.

 

Yuvraj, started well, striking two fours off Fernando with a turn off his legs and an off drive but fell to the pace bowler when trying to flick the ball and only put up a tame catch to mid-on as the ball stopped on him a bit.

 

He made 21 in 31 balls and hit four fours.

 

When the power plays ended India were 90 for three with Ganguly four short of his second successive fifty of the series he made 62 at Rajkot while captain Dravid was on four.

 

The hosts needed 141 off the last 30 overs at the end of the field restrictions.

 

The introduction of leg-spinner Malinga Bandara brought about the former captain’s downfall. He was trapped leg before on the sweep shot.

 

Ganguly, struck six fours in his 71-ball innings and had one lucky escape when on 31, with Bandara failing to latch on to a difficult chance at covers when the batsman drove Nuwan Kulasekara.

 

At 94 for four, India looked wobbly but Dravid batted superbly and in the company of Mahendra Dhoni, who eschewed risks, took the score past the 150 mark by the 34th over.

 

The Indian captain once struck Kulasekara for three fours in successive balls after becoming the third from the country and sixth overall to reach the important milestone of crossing 10,000 runs in his 309th ODI.

 

The sudden aggression brought down the asking rate in the 31st over when things were getting a bit tight.