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Jaysuriya hits monumental 151 n.o. in Sri Lanka's win

Bombay, May 17: Chaminda Vaas and Sanath Jayasuriya set Sri Lankan records Saturday as the world champions crushed India by five wickets to stay in contention for the Independence Cup.

Vaas took two for 13 in 10 overs, the best figures by a Sri Lankan bowler in 50-over internationals, to restrict the home team to 225 for seven on an unusually bouncy Wankhede sta- dium wicket. Jayasuriya then smashed a monumental 151 not out off 120 balls, Sri Lanka's highest individual one-day score, to help his team gallop past the modest target with 9.1 overs to spare. The result left all four teams with one win each from two matches, and turned the last round of league matches Sri Lanka v New Zealand on Tuesday and India v Pakistan on Wednesday into semi-finals.

India's hopes of making the best-of-three finals before the potentially hazardous clash against Pakistan evaporated soon after skipper Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and decided to bat. They were reduced to 29 for three as Vaas bowled Saurav Ganguly with the first ball of the match and Sajeewa De Silva sent back the dangerous Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli by the 12th over.

Ajay Jadeja (72) led India's revival, putting on 95 for the fourth wicket with Rahul Dravid (61) and 58 for the fifth with Robin Singh, who hit a run-a-ball 51. Left-arm seamer Vaas conceded just six runs in his first spell of six overs and seven more in his last four, removing Anil Kumble off the final ball of the innings. Ten- dulkar, who made 117 against New Zealand on Wednesday, scored two when he cut a short ball from Sajeewa hard and high to Kumara Dharmasena on the third man fence. Kambli, recalled in place of former skipper Mohammad Azharuddin, plodded for 19 balls to score four when he pulled Sajeewa tamely to short mid-wicket.

The home team would have been in further trouble if wicketkeeper Romesh Kaluwitharana had taken a simple edge offered by Dravid in Dharmasena's first over. Dravid, then on 28 in a score of 45 for three, went on to rebuild India's shattered innings in Jade- ja's company before off-spinner Muttiah Murlitharan bowled him in the 34th over. The Indians, who went for a desperate slog in the end, managed to score 41 runs off the last five overs.

Sri Lanka themselves began on the wrong foot losing out-of- form Kaluwitharana in the second over before he had scored. Kaluwitharana, whose last seven one-day innings had pro- duced just 14 runs, was asked to open again even though cap- tain Arjuna Ranatunga had indicated before the match that Roshan Mahanama would be given the job. The move backfired, as Kaluwitharana faced only two balls from Abey Ku- ruvilla before edging a simple catch to Tendulkar in the slips. But the joy of 40,000 partisan home fans was short-lived as Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu (38) thwarted India's hopes of an upset win by adding 138 for the second wicket.

Sri Lanka slipped from 146 for one to 151 for three as Atapat- tu was run out and Aravinda De Silva trapped leg-before by Kumble in the space of three deliveries. But Jayasuriya, who hit four sixes and 16 boundaries in his fourth one-day century, ensured Sri Lanka were safely home.