Tri Series Final 33 Overs: India Find Themselves Stuttering at the Half Way Mark

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Sreelata YellamrazuJan 13 2010

The figures appear a lot better than they really were at the half way mark of the Indian innings batting first at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur in the tri series final of the Idea Cup in Bangladesh.

suresh raina 1

The Indian parade was threatening to get done in a hurry. Ironically that it was coming in the final made the job very tough. But Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina were slowly and surely picking up the pieces, the tatters really, after Sri Lankan sliced through India's top order to have them reeling at five down for sixty in only the eleventh over.

virender sehwag 1

For a while, the innings seemed like a disjointed affair. How often has it been said that it appeared that all the other batsmen were playing on a different pitch while Virender Sehwag played on another? It was something like that on the day of the final with Sehwag coming all guns blazing but Sri Lanka cutting through the Indian batting like knife run through soft butter.

Sehwag's forty-two runs from twenty-seven balls seems quite extraordinary when one sees the manner in which wickets tumbled so early into the match.

It was the combination of Chanaka Welegedera and Nuwan Kulasekara that proved too hot to handle on a day when the weather was cloudy and Sri Lanka made the predictable decision to field first after Kumar Sangakkara won the toss.

Gautam Gambhir was the first wicket to fall, followed by the man in form, Virat Kohli. From two down for four runs in only the second over, Yuvraj Singh's wicket made it three down for sixteen.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain, was left with an enormous task of salvaging the innings and while Sehwag was taking some of a pressure off him at the other end, there would be no captain's knock on this occasion. Kulasekara accounted for Dhoni and Sehwag and left India in a heap of trouble.

But Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja negated further Sri Lanka's in roads with dogged batting, keeping India in the hunt at 162 for five in 33 overs, Raina unbeaten on sixty-one and Jadeja lending a helping hand with thirty-six.

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