Sangakkara stars in Sri Lanka’s emphatic victory
By IANSWednesday, December 9, 2009
NAGPUR - India failed to capitalise on Gautam Gambhir’s explosive half century and went down to Sri Lanka by 29 runs in the first Twenty20 International at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Ground here Wednesday.
Gambhir (55 off 26 balls) gave India a great start to chase down 216 runs, but the middle order collapsed in a heap and India finished at 186/9. Ashish Nehra’s (22) late flourish was not enough to see the team through.
Also, India’s poor fielding saw them drop a number of catches in a stark contrast to the visitors’ superb show in the outfield.
Sri Lanka, smarting under a Test series loss to the hosts, showed intent right from the start. Led by Kumar Sangakkara, who cracked 78 off just 37 balls, the batsmen chipped in with quick runs.
Openers Tillakaratne Dilshan (34) and veteran Sanath Jayasuriya (26) raised 43 runs to lay the foundation of a big score.
Sangakkara then blasted the bowlers, striking 11 fours and two sixes. He got good support from Chamara Kapugeddera (47 off 20 balls) as the duo smashed 69 runs for the fourth wicket to score the highest total by any team against India in a T20 international.
Indian reply began with Sehwag (26) not wasting time to give a charge to the Sri Lankan attack. But he was soon dismissed caught at point boundary off Nuwan Kulasekara.
Gambhir then played a thrilling knock, piercing the off side field with brilliant timing. He was severe on comeback speedster Lasith Malinga, hitting him for four fours in an over. His fifty came up in 19 balls.
Gambhir’s 26-ball knock with 11 fours was brought to an end by Angelo Mathews (2-30).
India were 93/2 in 8.2 overs before they lost wickets in quick succession. Skipper Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina all holed out in the deep while attempting to clear the ropes.
Yusuf Pathan, too, went for a big shot and was caught by Malinga off Jayasuriya (2-19) while Rohit Sharma was run out. Sri Lanka soon reduced India to 129/7 and coasted to their first victory of the series.
