 Sri Lanka coast to easy win in Dambulla
18th Aug 2008 17:02 IST
Manish Kumar
The Indian batting caved in yet again as Sri Lanka won the first match of the ODI series by eight wickets at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium in Dambulla today.
Sri Lanka, led by unbeaten knocks by their captain Mahela Jayawardene (61) and Chamara Kapugedera (45), achieved the low victory target of 147 runs with 15.1 overs to spare.
Jayawardene and Kapugedera added 102 runs for the third wicket to lead their team to victory and denied India any further breakthroughs.
Jayawardene hit seven fours in his unbeaten knock that came off 82 balls while Kapugedera hit four fours in his 72-ball knock.
Munaf Patel took the first Sri Lankan wicket in the seventh over when the veteran Sanath Jayasuriya (10) walked down the pitch and in an effort to pull the short delivery, but was beaten for pace and edged it high up in the air for Irfan Pathan to take the catch at mid-off.
Munaf struck again in the thirteenth over when he dismissed Kumar Sangakkara (19) with an easy caught and bowled.
With Sri Lanka at 45/2, Jayawardene, like a true captain, took it upon himself to play an anchor innings and guide his team to victory and a 1-0 series lead.
Zaheer Khan bowled economically and Munaf responded with two wickets but it was Pathan who disappointed again.
With all the experience that he has, Pathan hardly bowled with any variations and also did not use the bowling crease to good effect and kept bowling from almost the same spot. In quest of wickets, bowlers got to have variations the prime example of which is the success of Ajantha Mendis.
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