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| Sunday, 7 July 2002 |
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Sports |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Lanka make inglorious exit from NatWest tourney Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from England BIRMINGHAM, July 6 - Sri Lanka made an inglorious exit from the NatWest one-day series when they succumbed to a four-wicket defeat to India at Edgbaston here today. Put into bat first after losing the toss, Sri Lanka were dismissed for 187, the lowest total of the tournament. They gave another disappointing display of batting failing to last the full quota, being dismissed in 48.2 overs. Despite losing their top four batsmen for 59 runs, India once more displayed their batting depth reaching the target in the first ball of the 49th over scoring 188-6 to become the first team to qualify for the final on July 13. Rahul Dravid playing the sheer anchor role steered them home with a typically cool and calculated innings of 64 off 95 balls which gave him the man-of-the-match award. The Indian vice-captain rescued his team from a precarious position for the third time in four matches in the competition. His 95-ball knock comprised five fours and a six. Dravid was out in the 47th over with India requiring nine for victory having come to the wicket at 33-3 in the 14th over. He didn't put a foot wrong after being caught at nine by Arnold at cover off a Dilhara Fernando no-ball. India then were 76-4 in the 25th over and Dravid's wicket at that stage may have given a new twist to the final result. But as it has been throughout this tour, Sri Lanka never got the breaks and the luck when they needed it most. Apart from their disappointing batting, Sri Lanka were lacking in the bowling as well sending as many as 17 wides and five no-balls. Vaas hit back for Sri Lanka by getting the dangerous Virender Sehwag first ball of the innings when he bowled him off his pads for a duck, and was unlucky not to have Ganguly in the same over when umpire Steve Bucknor negatived a confident appeal for a catch behind the wicket. TV replays showed Ganguly edging the ball onto his pad and being caught by Kaluwitharana. He was on four at the time, and the Indian captain rode his luck when Upul Chandana, one of the best fielders in the Sri Lankan side, dropped him a cover point off Dilhara Fernando four runs later. But Vaas struck again in his seventh over when Dinesh Mongia got a leading edge and was caught by a diving Jayasuriya at mid-off for five, and five runs later Ganguly's chancy innings was ended at 24, when he attempted to cut Wickramasinghe and was caught by Kaluwitharana after the ball had rebounded off Jayawardene's hands at slip. Sachin Tendulkar came into a thunderous reception from the packed ground. He hit three fours in scoring 18 before being dropped by Dilhara Fernando at point off Chandana. But three balls and a run later, Fernando compensated for that lapse by trapping the 'master' with a slow ball which he lobbed to Atapattu at cover. At 59-4 in the 20th over, Sri Lanka clearly felt the need of an extra bowler. The lack of one enabled Dravid and Yuvraj to stage a recovery adding 91 off 127 balls. Off-spinner Tilan Samaraweera coming in for Kumar Sangakkara bowled 10 tidy overs for 35 runs but what Sri Lanka required in defending such a small total was wickets not containment. The pair took India to 150 before they were separated by Fernando who had Yuvraj caught by Chandana at point for 37 made off 68 balls with one six and four fours. With today's defeat Sri Lanka lost whatever chance they had of making it to the final. It was their fourth defeat in as many matches and it made their two remaining games against England at Old Trafford tomorrow and against India at Bristol on Thursday, more or less of academic interest. Sri Lanka saw all their hopes crumble when leg-spinner Anil Kumble took the wickets of Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene for three runs in nine balls, just when the two batsmen had played themselves into a position to launch an all out assault on the Indian bowling. The pair resurrected the Sri Lankan innings after Sanath Jayasuriya had gone for 22 playing onto a delivery from Nehra and Romesh Kaluwitharana was out to Agarkar's first ball of the innings for the second time in the tournament edging a wide ball to Dravid behind the wicket for eight. Atapattu and Jayawardene overcame some testing bowling from the three Indian seamers Nehra, Zaheer and Agarkar to put together a partnership of 84 off 118 balls for the third wicket. Atapattu completed his 39th one-day half-century off 70 balls with five fours, but before he could add any further runs to his score, he misread Kumble's googly for a leg-break and was bowled for 50. Four runs later Jayawardene making room on his leg side and trying to go over the top of extra cover only succeeded in putting the ball in Nehra's hands at wide long-off. Jayawardene made 36 off 64 balls with two fours. Kumble's double strike in successive overs, left the Sri Lankan innings in tatters and by the 43rd over seven wickets had gone for 153. Vaas lashed out at the bowling to make 26 off 20 balls with five four, but otherwise, it was overall a poor display of batting and bowling by Sri Lanka who had come into this match knowing that defeat here would put them out of the competition. SRI LANKA
S. Jayasuriya b Nehra 22
R. Kaluwitharana c Dravid b Agarkar 8
M. Atapattu b Kumble 50
M. Jayawardene c Nehra b Kumble 36
A. Gunawardene c Y.Singh b Khan 7
R. Arnold run out (Y. Singh) 13
T. Samaraweera c Sehwag b Nehra 3
U. Chandana c Nehra b Agarkar 4
C. Vaas c Ganguly b Khan 26
P. Wickramasinghe run out (Y.Singh) 2
D. Fernando not out 2
Extras (B-4, LB-4, NB-4, W-2) 14
TOTAL (all out, 48.2 overs) 187
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-33, 2-41, 3-125, 4-129, 5-146,
6-150, 7-153,8-182, 9-185
BOWLING: Nehra 10-2-28-2, Khan 8.2-0-36-2 (NB-1 W-1),
Agarkar 9-1-31-2, Ganguly 6-0-30-0 (NB-3),
Tendulkar 5-0-18-0,Kumble 10-0-36-2 (W-1)
INDIA: S. Ganguly, V. Sehwag, D. Mongia, S. Tendulkar,
R. Dravid,Y. Singh, M. Kaif, A. Agarkar, A. Kumble,
A. Nehra, Z. Khan.
INDIA
V. Sehwag b Vaas 0
S. Ganguly c Kaluwitharana b Wickramasinghe 24
D. Mongia c Jayasuriya b Vaas 5
S. Tendulkar c Atapattu b Fernando 19
R. Dravid run out 64
Yuvraj Singh c Chandana b Fernando 37
M. Kaif not out 7
A. Agarkar not out 7
Extras (LB-3, W-17, NB-5) 25
TOTAL (for six wkts, 48.1 overs) 188
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0, 2-30, 3-33, 4-59, 5-150,
6-179.
DID NOT BAT: A. Kumble, A. Nehra, Z. Khan.
BOWLING: Vaas 10-1-26-2, Fernando 10-0-22-2,
Wickramasinghe9-0-47-1, Chandana 6.1-0-32-0,
Samaraweera 10-1-35-0, Jayasuriya3-0-23-0.
RESULT: India won by four wickets.
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