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Dilshan ignites triseries on a rainy day

Filed under CB Tri-series 2008

Tillakaratne-Dilshan-Manuka.jpg Lets revisit a fact : if Australia don't reach the finals of this 2008 commonwealth Bank triangular series - they'll fall to second place in ODI rankings after being numero uno for a long long time.

After 5 of 12 league matches, points table has India, Australia & Srilanka on 8, 7 and 6 points respectively.. for sure - road to best of 3 final of this 'last' triseries in Australia is within grasp of all the three teams participating.

Interestingly, neither India nor Srilanka have ever won this annual tournament in australia for last 29 years.

On 12th february 2008, Tillakaratane Dilshan reignited Srilankan & his own fortunes as a cricketer after being given the opportunity to open the innings with Sanath Jayasuriya. Morning rain had delayed the start of this Match 5 at Manuka Oval in Australian capital - Canberra, and then lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene elected to field first.. something Indian captain Dhoni wouldn't complain about!

Harbhajan-Tong-Manuka.jpg Match was reduced to 29 over a side.

Having shown good determination in test series, Virendra Sehwag threw his wicket away for the 3rd straight time while opening with Sachin Tendulkar who was timing the ball perfectly at other end. Then, Gautam Gambhir & Rohit Sharma show started.. Muralitharan looked mediocre as these young Indian batsmen came down the track to hit over the infield or went back to square cut the off spinner.

Captain Dhoni (playing his 100th ODI) promoted himself before Yuvraj Singh and, as usual, took quick singles. he also completed 3000 oneday runs, but Dhoni's specialty (hard-hit sixes) never came. Rohit Sharma's lazy elegance continued until Lankan fast bowlers started using short pitched deliveries. by then, Indian had posted a healthy total.

More rain during lunch interval, which changed srilankan target from 196 off 29 overs to 154 in 21 overs.

Srilankan innings' 3rd over = Sreesanth's 2nd over = 1+2+6+1wd+0+4+6+3 = 23 runs. Jayasuriya got out after playing only 13 deliveries but he had brought the asking rate around 6 runs per over & Dilshan never allowed it to go out of lankan control.

an easy win at the end by Srilanka.

Mini scorecard : Ind v SL Match 5, Canberra (see full scorecard)
India : 195 for 5 in 29 overs.
Sehwag 14, Tendulkar 32, Gambhir 35, Sharma 70*, Dhoni 31.
Srilanka : 154 for 2 in 19 overs.
Dilshan 62*, Jayasuriya 27, Sangakkara 10, Jayawardene 36*.
Srilanka won by DL method.

Note : This was only the 2nd One day international ever played at Manuka oval cricket ground, which is the hom ground of New South Wales team. both India and Srilanka had played a practice game here before on this tour, and in fact, Manuka Oval is known to host practice match every year between a touring cricket team and a local team. the only other ODI played here was between South Africa and Zimbabwe in that 1992 world cup.




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