Brisbane: India's tri-series campaign Down Under received a tremendous jolt as they lost to Sri Lanka by 51 runs here. The defeat has made it very difficult for the men in blue to make it to the finals as they went crashing down to the bottom of the points table.
Chasing a target of 290, Indians never looked confident and suffered yet another top-order collapse and were all out for 238 in 45.1.
India saw light of hope on few occasions especially when Virat Kohli(66) and Suresh Raina(32) made a 96 runs fourth wickets stand and a late cameo by Irfan Pathan who scored 47 runs of 34 balls,
For Sri Lanka the wrecker in chief was Thisara Perera and Nuwan Kulasekara who picked up four and three wickets respectively.
India first setback came in the first over itself when Virender Sehwag slashed Lasith Malinga to give an easy catch Kulasekara at third man position.
Sachin Tendulkar (22) put on some resistance but could last long as he dragged Kulasekara’s delivery onto his stumps in the eight over. Gambhir soon followed the suit and was out for 29.
With the score board reading 54-3, and India looking down the barrel India, it was Kohli and Raina who crafted a partnership to give an outside chance. But disaster struck India again in the 31st over when Raina lost his wicket to Maharoof.
Kohli though continued and was looking solid but perished in the 36th over to dash India’s hope of winning. India lost wickets in flurry and were soon eight wickets down with the scorecard reading 232.
Pathan put up a late fightback with his clean hitting but could not do much as he was caught by Thisara to bring the curtains down. He struck seven boundaries in his innings.
Earlier fine half centuries by Tilekratne Dilshan (51) and H. Thirimane (62) helped Sri Lanka lift their total to 289.
By Indian Sports News Network
