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Sri Lanka tasted their first success of the CB Series with a comfortable 8-wicket win with 12 balls to spare in a rain-truncated affair at the Manuka Oval. Their opponents, India lost the game but played fascinating cricket, in particular during their batting. Young Rohit Sharma was the star performer of the day with his magnificent strokeplay. His half century had gone in vain and it was Tillakaratne Dilshan to become the Player of the Match for his match winning innings.
Heavy rain wasn’t enough to wash out what was just the second ever international match at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. With excellent drainage system in place, a 29-over match was possible. Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to chase which is the best option in shortened games. India started off cautiously as Vaas and Malinga had a good time with the new ball. Both Sehwag and Tendulkar didn’t blaze along and were caught at the third man boundary trying to play the big shots. Sehwag had another failure in ODIs, making just 14 while Tendulkar got 32 from 30 with 4 fours.
India didn’t get the best of starts at 49 for 2 in 8.2 overs. The inform Gautam Gambhir reconstructed the innings along with Rohit Sharma, who got promoted ahead of Yuvraj. Both these young batsmen batted with responsibility and once the time was up to step up the momentum, they did just that with some incredible strokeplay. Gambhir yet again dominated Murali (who was playing his 300th ODI) and one of his best shots was the inside out lofted cover drive off the same bowler. Gambhir got run out in the 20th over but not before setting up a nice platform for India at 113 for 3. Gambhir got 35 from 33 with 3 fours. India finished at a superb 195 for 5 in their allotted 20 overs with Captain MS Dhoni making a quick cameo of 31 from 26. But it was the 20-year-old Rohit Sharma, who earned lot of fans with some of the unimaginable shots like the cut over the keeper’s head and a paddle sweep both coming off quick bowlers! He made a career best of 70 not out which came in 64 balls with 6 fours and a six.
Rain had revisited the Manuka Oval towards the end of the Indian innings. It left the ground on time to have a 21 overs chase for Sri Lanka which revised the target to 154. Sri Lanka were on the rampage straightaway taking 11 and 23 in Sreesanth’s first two overs which got them to a dream start of 41 for 0 in just 3 overs! Jayasuriya was in ferocious form smashing two fours and two sixes to score 27 in 13 before getting undone by the pace and bounce off Ishant Sharma to be caught down the legside. Dilshan, who got promoted as an opener was off to a shaky start but soon started to get going. He lost his next partner, Sangakkara early after he holed out to mid on off Harbhajan Singh in the very first ball the offie had bowled.
Sri Lanka’s Captain Mahela Jayawardene walked in at 69 for 2 in the 8th over. With Dilshan, he comfortably steered his side to victory as the required run rate was at nearly run-a-ball. India failed to get any wickets as both the right handers looked in supreme control of their game to clinch the victory in the 19th over. Dilshan remained unbeaten on 62 from 59 with 6 fours and a six. Mahela contributed 36 from 35. Sreesanth had a horrible day leaking 48 runs in his 3 overs. Harbhajan Singh was economical with 1 for 15 in his 4. It was yet again Ishant Sharma making the waves with his new found pace of nearly 150kmph!