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| February 15, 2007 | Thursday | Muharram 26, 1428 |
Dravid, Zaheer help India level series
GOA (India), Feb 14: Rahul Dravid became the sixth batsman in history to reach 10,000 one-day runs as he steered India to a series-levelling five-wicket win over Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
Dravid hit a match-winning 66 as India overcame early setbacks to surpass Sri Lanka's 230-8 in the 47th over of the third One-day International at the Nehru Stadium here.
The hosts hit 233-5 to level the four-match series 1-1 with the decider to be played in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. The first match in Kolkata was abandoned due to rain and Sri Lanka won the second in Rajkot by five runs.
The series is the last for both teams before they head to the Caribbean for the World Cup starting on March 13.
India's victory was set up by left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan who grabbed a career-best 5-42 after Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat in good conditions.
Zaheer reduced Sri Lanka to 6-3 in the fifth over before the tourists, electing to take first strike, fought back through the lower order to post a challenging total.
Russel Arnold (66 not out) and Tillekeratne Dilshan (42) put on 89 for the sixth wicket after half the side was back in the pavilion for 91 by the 24th over.
India, in reply, slipped to 35-2 by the fifth over as Virender Sehwag was caught off Dilhara Fernando for 12 and Sachin Tendulkar was bowled by Nuwan Kulasekara for one.
Saurav Ganguly made 48 to boost the score before Dravid and Mahendra Dhoni (67 not out) sealed India's win with a fifth-wicket stand of 133.
Dravid was unlucky to be run out four runs short of victory when bowler Malinga Bandara deflected a hit from Dhoni on to the wicket with the non-striker out of his crease.
Dravid joined team-mates Tendulkar and Ganguly, Inzamam-ul-Haq of Pakistan, Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka and Brian Lara of the West Indies in the exclusive 10,000-run club when he reached 22.
The Indian captain, a veteran of 309 one-dayers, now has 10,044 runs with 12 hundreds and 77 half-centuries.
Earlier, Zaheer grabbed the first three wickets in eight balls as he surpassed his previous best of 4-19 against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2003.
Ganguly led India's inspired display in the field with a brilliant catch to dismiss veteran Jayasuriya.
Ganguly, 34, ran swiftly from mid-wicket to square leg and then dived full length to hold a skier one-handed after Jayasuriya fended at a rising ball from Zaheer.
Zaheer trapped Upul Tharanga leg-before three balls later and clean-bowled Kumar Sangakkara, a century-maker in the previous game, for no score in his next over.
Skipper Mahela Jayawardene and his predecessor Marvan Atapattu put on 76 for the fourth wicket before both fell in successive overs to make Sri Lanka 91-5.
Atapattu was held low at square-leg by Tendulkar after making 42 and Jayawardene fell leg-before to Harbhajan Singh for 30.
Dilshan and Arnold rebuilt again in the middle overs before Harbhajan had Dilshan caught at the wicket in the 42nd over to take his second wicket.
Scoreboard
SRI LANKA:
W.U. Tharanga lbw b Zaheer 1
S.T. Jayasuriya c Ganguly b Zaheer 2
D.P.M.D. Jayawardene lbw b Harbhajan 30
K.C. Sangakkara b Zaheer 0
M. Atapattu c Tendulkar b Patel 42
T.M. Dilshan c Dhoni b Harbhajan 42
R.P. Arnold not out 66
M.F. Maharoof c Agarkar b Zaheer 14
C.M. Bandara lbw b Zaheer 2
K.M.D.N. Kulasekara not out 9
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-3, W-11, NB-4) 22
TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs) 230
FALL OF WKTS: 1-5, 2-5, 3-6, 4-82, 5-91, 6-180, 7-196, 8-204.
DID NOT BAT: C.R.D. Fernando.
BOWLING: Zaheer Khan 10-0-42-5 (2w);
Agarkar 10-2-40-0 (8w); Munaf Patel 10-2-41-1 (4nb); Harbhajan Singh 10-0-37-2; Tendulkar 4-0-33-0 (1w); Sehwag 6-0-30-0.
INDIA:
S.C. Ganguly lbw b Bandara 48
V. Sehwag c Dilshan b Fernando 12
S.R. Tendulkar b Kulasekara 1
Yuvraj Singh c Kulasekara b Fernando 21
R. Dravid run out 66
M.S. Dhoni not out 67
K.D. Karthik not out 4
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-10, NB-3) 14
TOTAL (for five wkts, 46.3 overs) 233
FALL OF WKTS: 1-20, 2-35, 3-83, 4-94, 5-227.
DID NOT BAT: A.B. Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel.
BOWLING: Maharoof 8-0-47-0 (5w); Fernando 10-1-43-2 (3nb, 5w); Kulasekara 8.3-0-46-1; Bandara 10-0-46-1; Jayasuriya 7-0-34-0, Dilshan 3-0-16-0.
RESULT: India won by five wickets.
UMPIRES: A.M. Saheba (India) and S.J.A. Taufel (Australia).
TV UMPIRE: S.L. Shastri (India).
MATCH REFEREE: A.G. Hurst (Australia).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Zaheer Khan.
FIRST MATCH: Kolkata, no result.
SECOND MATCH: Rajkot, Sri Lanka won by five runs.
FOURTH MATCH: At Visakhapatnam on Saturday.—AFP
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