Sri Lanka crash out of Pepsi Cup Rajiv Kumar - 30 March 1999 CricInfo report

India comprehensively beat Sri Lanka by a margin of 51 runs yesterday in the 5th match of the Pepsi Cup. A brilliant century by Jadeja, supported by a blazing 50 by debutant Khurasiya ensured that India's total of 286 was out of the reach of Sri Lanka.

The important pre-match news was that Ajay Jadeja was the captain today because of an injury to Azharuddin.

Ranatunga won the toss and decided to bowl first. For India left-handed S.Ramesh opened the innings with Ganguly. After his excellent performance in test match cricket Ramesh finally got to make his debut in one-day cricket. The Indian innings began in exciting fashion with Ramesh hitting the second ball of the match for a breath taking cover drive. The first eight overs were a mixed bag for both teams. The Sri Lankan bowlers bowled well focusing on line and length. But they were unable to take wickets. For India both openers looked confident even though the run rate was only around four runs an over.

Ganguly made a cautious start but did play some glorious boundaries square of the wicket. Ramesh displayed his silky, smooth timing when he hit a straight drive of the bowling of Vaas. In the 11th over Ramesh played a poor pull shot and was caught at wide mid on by Aravinda de Silva. Television replays showed that more than three fielders were outside the 30 yard circle when the ball was delivered!

Rahul Dravid who came in next looked in very good form early on. He hit three sensational consecutive boundaries off Upashantha. But Upashantha had his revenge in the 17th over when Dravid mistimed a pull shot. The ball ballooned into the air and was caught easily by Ranatunga at short midwicket. Dravid made 17 runs off 15 balls.

Ganguly was frustrated by some very good bowling by Upashantha and Ruwan Kalpage. He broke through the shackles by hitting Kalpage for a massive six that nearly went into the commentators box! Jadeja and Ganguly consolidated the innings adding 77 runs before Ganguly was finally out in 32nd over. He nicked a top spinner from Upul Chandana to the keeper. Ganguly's patient knock of 65 runs came of 91 balls. The left handed Amay Khurasiya was the next man in. Even though he was making his debut in international cricket he did not display any kind of nerves. In fact the second ball he faced was a cracking straight drive to the boundary.

The partnership of 125 runs between Jadeja and Khurasiya was near perfect. They kept the scoreboard ticking with quick singles combined with powerful hits to the fence. In the 40th over Khurasiya smashed two massive consecutive sixes over mid-wicket of the bowling of Chandana.

The final eleven overs was a run feast for the Indians. A total of 103 runs were scored during this period. The runs came in every possible way. Ajay Jadeja wrecked Jayawardene's bowling figures by hitting three consecutive fours. The Indian batsmen were truly on fire! The 44,45, and 46th over combined to produce a total of 40 runs. Khurasiya was finally caught at long off by Chandana of the bowling of Wickramasinghe. He had made a dream debut by scoring 57 runs from 45 balls which included 2 sixes and 4 fours.

Wickramasinghe and Vaas bowled the last few overs very well getting Robin Singh and Agarkar out cheaply. But Jadeja was able to reach his fifth century in one day cricket. The second fifty came in only 24 deliveries! At the end of the innings Ajay Jadeja was not out on 103 runs of 102 balls which included 6 fours and 3 sixes. India's total score was 286 for six wickets.

The Sri Lankan innings made a quiet start. Srinath was at his aggressive best. While Gunawardene did manage to hit one brilliant boundary square of the wicket he struggled against Srinath's pace in general. He tried to drive on the backfoot but only managed to hole out to the fielder at cover. He was out for 10 runs. In the very next over Atapattu was caught at first slip by Ganguly of the bowling of Agarkar. Actually Ganguly performed a rather amusing juggling act before he held on.

Mahela Jayawardene and Aravinda de Silva pushed along the scoring at a reasonable rate. Aravinda played some beautiful shots. He stood up and played Srinath through backward point for a boundary. Mahela played away from his body to a delivery from Robin Singh and it took a faint nick to the keeper. A promising ininngs of 30 runs and a good partnership of 56 runs ended rather tamely. Vaas was sent in as pinch hitter but was out almost immediately for a duck.

The grand old men of Sri Lanka cricket, De Silva and Ranatunga, steadied the innings by taking singles. While they were unable to match the required run rate of about seven runs an over they did seem to have a plan on what had to be done. Arvinda reached a personal milestone of 8000 runs in one day cricket. At the end of 25 overs Sri lanka were 114 for 4 wickets.

Suddenly the whole world came crashing down on the Sri Lankans in the 31 first over. In the third ball of the over Ranatunaga pushed the ball to short mid wicket and set off for a quick single. Nikhil Chopra picked the ball up and fired towards the wicketkeeper's end. Mongia made a brilliant diving collection and broke the stumps in one single motion. Aravinda was short of the crease by nearly a foot. Aravinda had made 54 runs from 79 balls. The drama was far from over. The very next ball the new man in, Chandana, gently pushed at the ball and set off for a single. Robin Singh, the bowler, sprinted towards the ball, picked it up, threw and hit the stumps. It was truly a breathtaking piece of fielding. Ranatunga was found to be run out by the third umpire. The Sri Lankans had practically shot themselves in the foot!

The brave Sri Lanka tail refused to give up meekly and tried very hard to make a match of it. Upashantha hit Chopra for two fours and one huge six in one over! But all this meant very little in the end as India won by a margin of 51 runs and with four overs to spare. A important and morale boosting win for the Indians. The Sri Lankans crashed out of the Pepsi Tournament. The man of the match was Ajay Jadeja.