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| Dhoni, Yuvi take India to victory |
| India had their back to the wall against Sri Lanka, when Yuvraj Singh must have thought "not today" to himself. He smeared himself with war paint,
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| INDIA
, 19-February-2008
9:36:30 AM |
| Batting first, Sri Lanka made an awful start but recovered to post 238-6 with Kumar Sangakkara (128) and Mahela Jayawardene (71) in excellent form.
India slumped to 35-3 in response but Yuvraj (76) and Dhoni (50 no) steered them towards victory.
The loss of three late wickets did not stop India sealing a two-wicket win.
The result, secured by Dhoni with five balls to spare, sees India close the gap on leaders Australia to five points after eight matches of the tri-series.
Sri Lanka's hopes of reaching the finals, meanwhile, are now hanging by a thread.
Despite winning the toss and opting to bat, Jayewardene's men lost wickets in the first and third overs, slumping to 6-2
With the fourth ball of the day Munaf Patel coaxed Tillakaratne Dilshan into prodding at one outside off-stump and edging behind to Dhoni.
Then, three deliveries into his second over, Munaf got fingertips to Sangakkara's straight drive, diverting it onto the stumps and leaving Sanath Jayasuriya well short of his ground.
In stifling heat, India would have been delighted with their early inroads but it was important for them to press home their early advantage.
But wicket-keeper Sangakkara, who hit 80 against Australia last Friday, steadied the innings before patiently setting about building a competitive total.
Sangakkara lost two partners to run-outs - Praveen Kumar tipped another of his straight drives onto the stumps to account for Jayawardene and Rohit Sharma's direct hit sent Chamara Kapugedera packing
But he survived to bring up his first ODI ton in a year by flicking Munaf through midwicket
He finally fell, pulling Irfan Pathan to Kumar at deep midwicket, and then Chamara Silva was caught by Robin Uthappa off Harbhajan Singh.
Much of this series has been characterised by substandard batting and, initially, India continued the trend by slumping to 35-3.
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