Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara hit impressive half-centuries to guide Sri Lanka to a four-wicket win over India in the triangular one-day series final here on Wednesday. Jayawardene top-scored with an unbeaten 71 and skipper Sangakkara made a brisk 55 as Sri Lanka passed India's 245 with nine balls to spare in the day-night match.
The duo also upstaged India's Suresh Raina, who cracked a gutsy 106 under pressure to prop up the innings. India were a bowler short when paceman Ashish Nehra left the field with an injury soon after having opener Upul Tharanga caught by Virat Kohli at second slip with his third delivery.
Opener Tillakaratne Dilshan (49) and Sangakkara dominated the Indian attack with aggressive shots, adding 93 for the second wicket. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh impressed the most with 2-41, while left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Yuvraj Singh bagged one wicket apiece.
But Jayawardene kept his cool to steer to his side home, ending the match with three successive fours off paceman Shanthakumaran Sreesanth. Man-of-the-match Kulasekara finished with 4-48 and left-arm seamer Welegedara grabbed 3-53.
Raina steadied the innings with a 106-run stand for the sixth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja (38). He fell soon after completing his century, bowled by Welegedara after cracking one six and 10 fours in his 115-ball knock. The Indian batting woes began with the match's third delivery when Gautam Gambhir was bowled by Kulasekara. Welegedara had in-form Kohli caught behind for two and then Yuvraj was caught at first slip by Samaraweera in successive overs to send India reeling at 16-3 in four overs. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni briefly defied the Sri Lankan attack when he shared a 31-run stand for the fourth wicket with Sehwag before being caught behind off Kulasekara.
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Scoreboard India:
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V. Sehwag c Sangakkara b
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Kulasekara 42
G. Gambhir b Kulasekara 0
V. Kohli c Sangakkara b Welegedara 2
Yuvraj Singh c Samaraweera b Welegedara 0
MS Dhoni c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 14
S. Raina b Welegedara 106
R. Jadeja lbw b Dilshan 38
Harbhajan Singh lbw b Randiv 11
Zaheer Khan c Samaraweera b Kulasekara 16
A. Nehra not out 2
S. Sreesanth b Perera 4
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Extras: (lb4, w6) 10
Total: (for all out; 48.2 overs) 245
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Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Gambhir), 2-4 (Kohli), 3-16 (Yuvraj), 4-47 (Dhoni), 5-60 (Sehwag), 6-166 (Jadeja), 7-213 (Harbhajan), 8-233 (Zaheer), 9-237 (Raina), 10-245 (Sreesanth).
Bowling: Kulasekara 10-0-48-4 (w1), Welegedara 10-1-53-3, Thushara 6-1-26-0 (w2), Randiv 9-0-47-1 (w1), Perera 8.2-0-49-1 (w1), Dilshan 5-0-18-1 (w1).
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Sri Lanka:
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U. Tharanga c Kohli b Nehra 0
T. Dilshan c Dhoni b Yuvraj 49
K. Sangakkara c Sehwag b Harbhajan 55
M. Jayawardene not out 71
T. Samaraweera b Jadeja 27
T. Kandamby lbw b Harbhajan 18
S. Randiv run out 17
T. Perera not out 6
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Extras: (lb1, nb1, w4) 6
Total: (for six wickets; 48.3 overs) 249
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Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Tharanga), 2-93 (Dilshan), 3-109 (Sangakkara), 4-157 (Samaraweera), 5-189 (Kandamby), 6-228 (Randiv).
Bowling: Nehra 1.2-0-2-1 (nb1), Sreesanth 9.3-0-72-0, Kohli 1.4-0-12-0, Zaheer 10-0-51-0 (w2), Harbhajan 10-0-41-2 (w2), Yuvraj 9-0-41-1, Jadeja 7-0-29-1.
Toss: Sri Lanka
Umpires: Enamul Haque (BAN) and Ian Gould (ENG)
TV umpire: Sharfuddoula Shahid (BAN)
Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM).
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