COLOMBO, Sept 29: Heavy rain forced the Champions Trophy final between India and Sri Lanka to be abandoned Sunday after a good fightback by the visitors.
The final will be replayed Monday.
India were 14 without loss from two overs after restricting Sri Lanka to 244 for five wickets in the day-night game when showers halted play to the disappointment of a capacity holiday crowd.
Play was called off at the Premadasa Stadium after steady drizzle had left the field completely drenched.
Virender Sehwag had made 13 from five balls with left-hander Dinesh Mongia on one, having been promoted up the batting order in place of skipper Saurav Ganguly.
If weather prevents at least 25 overs per side Monday, the teams will be declared joint winners of the 12-team competition which is second only to the World Cup in importance.
Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly had reason to be more disappointed than his Sri Lankan counterpart since his gamble of dropping experienced leg-spinner Anil Kumble for a three-strong pace attack seemed to have worked.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh took three for 27 in his sharp 10-over spell, while Virender Sehwag once again shone with the ball, bowling his 10 overs of off-breaks for only 32 runs.
Sri Lanka’s score was made possible by Jayasuriya who produced a patient knock to top score with 74 for his 51st one-day fifty.
Wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara contributed 54, his seventh half-century in One-day Internationals and raised 90 runs for the second wicket with Jayasuriya, who also shared in a 65-run opening stand with Marvan Atapattu (34).
Atapattu fell as the first of Harbhajan’s victims when he mis-timed a sweep to Ajit Agarkar at midwicket.
Jayasuriya’s dismissal to a running catch by Harbhajan after mis-hitting a lofted shot against paceman Agarkar slowed the scoring.
Sri Lanka’s batsmen managed just one four after Jayasuriya was out in the 31st over as India bowled and fielded well to keep the run flow in check.
Kumble, a 298-wicket veteran who had taken only three wickets at 53 runs apiece in his three tournament games, was among three changes from the side which beat South Africa by 10 runs in Wednesday’s semifinal.
Veteran quickie Javagal Srinath came in for injured left-armer Ashish Nehra to play his first one-day game since the home series against England in January.
Srinath went for 55 runs in eight wicketless overs, struggling in the heat and humidity having come straight from a stint with Leicestershire in the English county championship.
All-rounder Agarkar took Kumble’s place and Vangipurappu Laxman made way for Mongia.
SRI LANKA:
S.T. Jayasuriya c H’bhajan b A’kar 74
M.S. Atapattu c A’kar b H’bhajan 34
K.C. Sangakkara c Sehwag b H’bhajan 54
P.A. de Silva c Dravid b H’bhajan 18
D.P.M. Jayawardena c and b Tendulkar 13
R.P. Arnold not out 18
W.P.U.J.C. Vaas not out 11
EXTRAS (B-6, LB-8, W-8) 22
TOTAL (for five wkts, 50 overs) 244
FALL OF WKTS: 1-65, 2-155, 3-185, 4-207, 5-212.
DID NOT BAT: H.D.P.K. Dharmasena, M. Muralitharan, C.R.D. Fernando, P.W. Gunaratne.
BOWLING: Zaheer Khan 10-0-43-0 (2w); Srinath 8-0-55-0 (4w); Agarkar 6-0-37-1 (1w); Harbhajan Singh 10-1-27-3; Sehwag 10-0-32-0; Tendulkar 6-0-36-1 (1w).
INDIA:
D. Mongia not out 1
V. Sehwag not out 13
EXTRAS 0
TOTAL (for no wkt, 2 overs) 14
DID NOT BAT: S.C. Ganguly, S.R. Tendulkar, R.S. Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, A.B. Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, J. Srinath.
BOWLING: Vaas 1-1-0-0; Gunaratne 1-0-14-0.
RESULT: Abandoned (replay Monday).
UMPIRES: S.A. Bucknor (West Indies) and D.R. Shepherd (England).
TV UMPIRE: D.J. Harper (Australia).
MATCH REFEREE: C.H. Lloyd (West Indies).—Reuters