DAMBULLA, July 18: Sri Lanka kept their cool to pull off a close 12-run victory after Rahul Dravid led a belated Indian charge in the Group 'B' fixture of the Asia Cup here on Sunday.
Dravid made a superb 82 of 100 balls to revive India's hopes after the side had lost the top four batsmen for 71 runs with Nuwan Zoysa, the gangling left-arm seamer, involved in all of them.
Zoysa, named Man-of-the-Match, sent back Sachin Tendulkar (11), Parthiv Patel (6) and skipper Saurav Ganguly (6). He also ended Virender Sehwag's innings of 37 with a brilliant direct hit from third man.
India, in the end, finished at 270 for eight with Sri Lanka topping the group. Earlier, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene plundered 116 runs off just 88 balls to help Sri Lanka post a challenging 282-4.
Jayawardene smashed an unbeaten 58 and left-handed Sangakkara a solid 57 to captialise on the efforts of their top-order batsmen after their team had elected to bat in the day/night game at the Rangiri International Stadium.
The pair dominated the Indian attack with their aggressive shots, helping their team score 83 in the final 10 overs. Left-handed opener Avishka Gunawardene set the stage for the closing-overs onslaught with an impressive 49. He added 63 for the opening wicket with Saman Jayantha (34) and 65 for the second with skipper Marvan Atapattu (50).
Gunawardene, who scored 73 against the UAE in the previous game on Saturday, missed his second successive half-century as he was run out following a mix-up with his captain.
Atapattu also fell in the similar fashion, but not before putting his team in a strong position with a half-century. Sangakkara and Jayawardene then helped their team set a stiff target for the Indians with their hard and clean hitting on a slow turning pitch.
Jayawardene was more aggressive, once stepping out to hoist off-spinner Virender Sehwag for a huge six over long-on. He raced his half-century off just 49 balls with the help of one six and three fours.
Sangakkara hit one six and three fours in his 54-ball knock. Fast bowlers Laxmipathy Balaji and Irfan Pathan were the only wicket-takers in a mediocre Indian bowling performance.
Scoreboard
SRI LANKA:
W.S. Jayantha c Patel b Balaji 34
D.A. Gunawardene run out 49
M.S. Atapattu run out 50
K.C. Sangakkara c Ganguly b Pathan 57
D.P.M.D. Jayawardene not out 58
T.M. Dilshan not out 7
EXTRAS (B-2, LB-9, W-12, NB-4) 27
TOTAL (for four wkts, 50 overs) 282
FALL OF WKTS: 1-63, 2-128, 3-156, 4-272.
DID NOT BAT: U.D.U. Chandana, W.P.U.J.C. Vaas, M.F. Maharoof, D.N.T. Zoysa, M. Muralitharan.
