India v Sri Lanka ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Final Half Time: Mahela Century Powers SL

India could not maintain the tight leash on Sri Lanka in the death overs as they did in their opening spell. As a result Sri Lanka managed to raise 274 to set a tough target for India in the India v Sri Lanka ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

mahela jayawardene wc century v india

It took India four hours to bowl the fifty overs to Sri Lanka and in the end, they will feel like they had some of the wind taken out of them. That was because Sri Lanka managed to score about sixty-three runs in the final five overs to change what seemed to be a game largely in India's control.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, after winning and losing the toss via the confusion, included Sreesanth ahead of spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to go for pace over spin. The move seems initially okay but backfired as the game went along because Sreesanth struggled to control his line and length and the Sri Lankans took boundaries off him to ease pressure at their end.

While Munaf Patel bowled reasonably well without taking a wicket, Zaheer Khan began well to keep the Sri Lankans quiet in the first ten overs. However, the release of pressure from Sreesanth meant that the Indian captain had to deploy Yuvraj Singh and even Sachin Tendulkar to cover the overs.

Yuvraj Singh played his part once more, taking two wickets int he match while bowling within limits. The wicket of Kumar Sangakkara came at a time when the Sri Lankan captain was beginning to settle in nicely with forty-eight runs in a sixty-two run partnership for the third wicket with Mahela Jayawardene.

The experienced batting duo were able to thwart the early loss of wicket of Upul Tharanga and Tillekeratne Dilshan who was setting himself up for a big score on thirty-three. Yuvraj Singh managed to break another promising partnership brewing between Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera for fifty-seven runs.

However, Jayawardene himself accelerated towards his second World Cup century, scoring off just eighty-five runs, while Nuwan Kulasekara and Thissara Perera played brilliant cameos to finish what seemed like a steady but sedate Sri Lankan innings up until the fortieth over.

The damage was imminent as India are now left chasing 275 for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 trophy.