Chandimal ton knocks out India

HARARE - India crashed out of the traingular series with a six-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka in the fifth One-day International here Saturday.

Dinesh Chandimal scored a sparkling 111 as Sri Lanka made 270 for four in 48.2 overs after restricting India to 268 for nine in 50 overs.

For India, it was their second successive loss and the third in the tournament. After suffering two shocking losses at the hands of Zimbabwe, India needed to restrict Sri Lanka to 214 for the much important bonus point and qualify for the final.

But Chandhimal became the youngest to score an ODI century for Sri Lanka and showed India the exit.

It was, however, a much improved performance by the Indian batsmen, after they were asked to bat first at the Harare Sports Club.

After losing openers Dinesh Karthik (27) and debutant Naman Ojha (1) for 41 runs in the 10th over, Virat Kohli (68) and Yusuf Pathan (44) added a valuable 84 runs for the third wicket to bring some stablity to the innings.

Rohit Sharma (32), Suresh Raina (19) and Ravindra Jadeja (19) all got the starts but failed to convert them into big totals.

The Sri Lankan bowlers also maintained a tight line and length. It was spinner Suraj Randiv (2/38), who did the most damage by picking up Pathan and Sharma as India crawled from 125 for two in 23.5 overs to 187 for 5 in 37.1 overs. Thilan Thushara (3/57) went for some some runs but grabbed the crucial wickets of Sharma and R. Ashwin, who came up with a cameo of 38 runs off 32 balls.

Skipper Tillekaratne Dilshan (21) gave Sri Lanka a breezy start and Chandimal pulled off a blinder of an innings to ensure that the pace of runs never dropped.

Chandimal was impressive with his shot selection and footwork. He walked down the track to lift Pankaj Singh over mid-on and welcomed Pragyan Ojha with a six over long-of. When he Indian spinners tried to correct the length by hurling it fuller, he responded with his more audacious hits.

With Chamara Kapugedera (42), Chandimal added 114 runs for the fourth wicket and by the time the centurion fell, Sri Lanka were on the threshold of a win.

Jeevan Mendis (35 not out) and Thilan Samaraweera (28 not out) kocked off the last few runs to take Sri Lanka home safely.