Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir cracked half-centuries to upstage Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya as India posted a six-wicket win in the opening one-dayer here on Wednesday. Opener Gambhir made 62 and skipper Dhoni an unbeaten 61 to help India achieve the 247-run target with 11 balls to spare for a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Gambhir set up the win with a 113-run stand for the second wicket with Suresh Raina (54) before Dhoni completed the job with his 26th half-century. Rohit Sharma remained unbeaten with 25. "The partnership between Gambhir and Raina was very important and I am quite happy with the batting effort," said Dhoni. "It was a team effort as everybody chipped in. It was satisfying to see guys back each other up."
The Indian batsmen overshadowed Sri Lankan opener Jayasuriya, who made a robust 107 to become the oldest batsman to smash a one-day century and the second to complete 13,000 runs in one-dayers. Man-of-the-match Jayasuriya's 28th hundred came at the age of 39 years and 212 days, beating the previous oldest century-maker, Englishman Geoff Boycott at 39 years and 51 days (v Australia at Sydney in 1979).
India began the chase on a shaky note as they lost Sachin Tendulkar (five) in the fourth over and then saw Gambhir and Raina survive some anxious moments early in their innings. Record-seeking spinner Muttiah Muralitharan broke the stand when he had Gambhir caught by Thilina Kandamby at deep for his 501st victim. The Indian opener hit five fours in his 14th half-century.
Muralitharan now needs two more wickets to surpass former Pakistani paceman Wasim Akram's one-day record. Jayasuriya was in the limelight in the morning session, pacing his batting superbly on a slow pitch to hit one six and 10 fours in his 114-ball knock. He propped up the innings with a 118-run stand for the second wicket with Kumar Sangakkara (44) and 51 for the next with Kandamby (17) after the opening-over dismissal of in-form Dilshan.
Dilshan, who scored a century in his team's series-clinching win in his last match in Pakistan recently, was run out for no score following a mix-up with Jayasuriya. India, who elected to field after winning the toss, then had to wait for more than 27 overs for the next success as Jayasuriya and Sangakkara batted comfortably against both pace and spin. Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene, whose poor run with the bat continued as he made just 11, said Jayasuriya had been "brilliant", but admitted it was not enough to save his side.
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Scoreboard Sri Lanka:
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T. Dilshan run out 0
S. Jayasuriya c Patel b Zaheer 107
K. Sangakkara c Raina b Ojha 44
T. Kandamby c Zaheer b I. Sharma 17
F. Maharoof b I. Sharma 35
M. Jayawardene c R. Sharma b I. Sharma 11
C. Kapugedera run out 15
T. Thushara not out 12
N. Kulasekara not out 0
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Extras: (nb2, w3) 5
Total: (for seven wickets) 246
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Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Dilshan), 2-118 (Sangakkara), 3-169 (Kandamby), 4-171 (Jayasuriya), 5-204 (Jayawardene), 6-222 (Maharoof), 7-245 (Kapugedera).
Bowling: Zaheer 10-2-40-1 (w1), Patel 5-0-32-0 (w2), I. Sharma 10-1-52-3 (nb2), Ojha 10-0-52-1, Yusuf Pathan 7-0-32-0, Raina 4-0-16-0, R. Sharma 4-1-22-0.
Overs: 50
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India:
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G. Gambhir c Kandamby b Muralitharan 62
S. Tendulkar lbw b Thushara 5
S. Raina run out 54
Y. Singh c Muralitharan b Maharoof 23
MS Dhoni not out 61
R. Sharma not out 25
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Extras: (lb8, nb1, w8) 17
Total: (for four wickets) 247
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Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Tendulkar), 2-126 (Gambhir), 3-137 (Raina), 4-181 (Y. Singh).
Bowling: Kulasekara 7-0-32-0 (w1), Thushara 8-0-44-1 (w4), Maharoof 8-0-35-1, Mendis 10-0-47-0 (nb1, w1), Muralitharan 10-0-52-1 (w1), Dilshan 5.1-0-29-0.
Overs: 48.1
Result: India win by six wickets
Toss: India
Umpires: Brian Jerling (RSA) and Kumar Dharmasena (SRI)
TV umpire: Gamini Silva (SRI)
Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)
Second one-dayer: Colombo (Saturday).
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