Sport | Cricket
Praveen and Ishant propel India to finals
India thrashed Sri Lanka by seven wickets at Hobart on Tuesday to book their place in the tri-series finals against Australia.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:05 February 27, 2008
- Image Credit: Reuters
- India's Praveen Kumar (second from left) celebrates the dismissal of Sri Lanka's Chamara Silva with Robin Uthappa (left) and Rohit Sharma (right) during their tri-series match in Hobart on Tuesday.
Sydney: India thrashed Sri Lanka by seven wickets at Hobart on Tuesday to book their place in the tri-series finals against Australia.
India wrapped up a comprehensive victory with more than 17 overs to spare when they bowled Sri Lanka out for 179 before reaching their target for the loss of just three wickets.
Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma captured four wickets apiece with the ball while Gautam Gambhir (63 not out) and Sachin Tendulkar (63) scored the bulk of the runs.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said his team were starting to peak at the right time with the finals starting on Sunday.
"Still we are not at our best. We can be a better side overall when it comes to batting, bowling and fielding," Dhoni told a news conference. "You can expect a bit more from the side but it depends on lots of other things."
Sri Lanka needed to win their last two matches to leapfrog India in the standings and make the best-of-three finals but came unstuck at the first leg.
They now have nothing to play for in their last match against Australia in Melbourne on Friday.
"We don't deserve to be in the finals because we haven't been consistent in this tournament, simple as that," Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said.
"I think our bowling has been pretty decent, the concern has been our batting. You need to put runs on the board and chase totals down. We haven't done that the whole series so that's something we really have to get right."
Kumar took 4-31 and Ishant 4-41 as the Indian bowlers polished off the Sri Lankan innings in 47.1 overs, despite a spirited performance from lower-order batsmen Chamara Kapugedera.
Sri Lanka were in danger of settling for a much smaller total when they slumped to 93-7 in the 26th over before Kapugedera rescued the innings with 57.
After making a strong start at the Bellerive Oval when opener Sanath Jayasriya and wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara took the score along to 72-1 by the 15th over, the wickets suddenly started to tumble.
Sri Lanka:
- D.Perera b I.Sharma 8
- S.Jayasuriya c Dhoni b Pathan 34
- K.Sangakkara c Dhoni b Kumar 33
- M.Jayawardene c R.Sharma b Kumar 3
- C.Silva c Dhoni b Kumar 0
- T.Dilshan lbw b I.Sharma 8
- C.Kapugedera c and b Harbhajan 57
- C.Vaas c Gambhir b I.Sharma 0
- L.Malinga c Uthappa b I.Sharma 12
- M.Muralitharan b Kumar 13
- I.Amerasinghe not out 0
Extras (lb-5 w-6) 11
Total (all out, 47.1 overs) 179
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-72, 3-77, 4-81, 5-81, 6-93, 7-93, 8-139, 9-179.
Bowling: Patel 9-0-51-0 (w-1), I.Sharma 10-0-41-4 (w-2), Pathan 10-2-23-1, Kumar 10-2-31-4 (w-2), Harbhajan Singh 4.1-0-17-1, Yuvraj Singh 4-0-11-0 (w-1)
India:
- R.Uthappa c Amerasinghe b Malinga 11
- S.Tendulkar c Silva b Muralitharan 63
- G.Gambhir not out 63
- Y.Singh c Dilshan b Perera 36
- R.Sharma not out 3
Extras (w-4) 4
Total (three wickets, 32.2 overs) 180
Did not bat: P.Kumar, I.Pathan, M.Dhoni, H.Singh, I.Sharma, M.Patel
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-120, 3-171
Bowling: Vaas 6-0-29-0, Malinga 6-0-36-1 (w-3), Amerasinghe 7-0-40-0, Muralitharan 8.2-0-54-1 (w-1), Jayasuriya 1-0-4-0, Perera 4-0-17-1
Result: India won by seven wickets
Man of the match: Praveen Kumar (India)
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