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| Sunday,13 November 2005 |
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Home favourite Pathan sinks Sri Lanka BARODA, India, Nov. 12 - Home favourite Irfan Pathan produced a fine all-round performance as India notched up an easy five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the seventh and final one-dayer to wrap up the series 6-1. Pathan grabbed three scalps and slammed a brisk 35 during his first international appearance in his hometown as India raced to the 245-run target with 10.3 overs to spare. Hard-hitting Mahendra Dhoni made things easy with a quickfire 80, adding 83 for the fifth wicket with captain Rahul Dravid (31 not out) before falling at the brink of victory. Wicketkeeper Dhoni, who was named man of the series after a fine run with the bat that included a record-breaking 183 not out in the third match in Jaipur, hit nine fours and three sixes off 73 balls. India, who had clinched the series early on by winning the first four matches, finished with a morale-boosting series result just four days ahead of a five-match one-day series against South Africa. "I had full confidence in my boys before the series but didn't think we would win this easily," conceded Dravid. "Everyone delivered at different times and so it has been a great team effort." The day belonged to 21-year-old Pathan, who was on the offensive from early on after being promoted to the number three position, from where he had slammed a quickfire 83 off 70 balls in the opening match in Nagpur. The left-hander smashed four boundaries and two sixes, one each off pacemen Dilhara Fernando and Nuwan Zoysa, in just 23 balls before he fell trying a big hit off Zoysa. "Nothing seems to be enough for the Indians the way they are playing at the moment," said Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu. "We have to take this out of our minds before we come back for the Test series next month." Earlier, Pathan and the other left-arm paceman Rudra Pratap Singh had bagged three wickets each to help restrict Sri Lanka to 244-9. Rudra finished with 3-33 and Pathan 3-38 as India made a strong start in the match. Rudra, man of the match with four wickets in the last outing at Rajkot, ran through the middle-order by taking the important scalps of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan. Electing to bat, Sri Lanka were reduced to 85-5 after Rudra's successes, and only managed the total they did because of a 133-run stand for the sixth wicket between Atapattu (59) and left-hander Russell Arnold (68). The duo came together in the 25th over and repaired the damage with some determined batting before they fell on successive deliveries from Pathan in the 47th over while trying to force the pace. Pathan had earlier accounted for left-hander Upul Tharanga (six) with the new ball when the opener edged to Dravid at first slip. Atapattu struck five boundaries during his 55th one-day half-century while Arnold hit seven fours and a six in his 23rd before they were both caught by Harbhajan Singh in the deep. Earlier, Sangakkara (32) and Jayawardene (20) added 57 runs for the third wicket after two early dismissals. Jayawardene faced 49 balls before he was caught by Murali Kartik at short mid-wicket and Sangakkara followed him when he miscued a pull for Yuvraj Singh to run in from point and take a well-judged catch. Seamer Ajit Agarkar chipped in with two wickets. SRI LANKA
T. Samaraweera c Harbhajan b Agarkar 6
U. Tharanga c Dravid b Pathan 6
K. Sangakkara c Yuvraj b Rudra Singh 32
M. Jayawardene c Kartik b Rudra Singh 20
M. Atapattu c Harbhajan b Pathan 59
T. Dilshan c Dhoni b Rudra Singh 4
R. Arnold c Harbhajan b Pathan 68
D. Lokuhetige b Agarkar 5
C. Vaas c Yuvraj b Kartik 11
U. Chandana not out 4
xtras (LB-4, W-23, NB-2) 29
TOTAL (nine wickets, 50 overs) 244
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-11, 2-20, 3-77, 4-80, 5-85,
6-218, 7-218, 8-227, 9-244.
BOWLING: Pathan 10-1-38-3, Agarkar 10-1-47-2,
Rudra Singh 10-2-33-3, Harbhajan 10-1-45-0,
Kartik 7-0-53-1, Sehwag 3-0-24-0.
INDIA
V. Sehwag c Sangakkara b Fernando 35
S. Tendulkar c and b Zoysa 39
Irfan Pathan c Jayawardene b Zoysa 35
M. Dhoni c Samaraweera b Chandana 80
Mohammad Kaif b Lokuhettige 13
R. Dravid not out 31
Y. Singh not out 0
Extras (LB-3, W-1, NB-8) 12
TOTAL (five wkts, 39.3 overs) 245
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-53, 2-109, 3-115, 4-157, 5-240.
BOWLING: Vaas 9.3-1-51-0, Fernando 10-1-72-1,
Zoysa 7-0-47-2, Lokuhettige 5-0-29-1,
Chandana 6-0-32-1, Dilshan 2-0-11-0.
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