Close India 203 for 6 (Tendulkar 49) beat Sri Lanka 202 for 8 (Jayawardene 62, Agarkar 3-44) by 4 wickets
scorecard

In the end, India wrapped it up with 28 balls to spare to notch their second win in two days, but it was a lot closer than that. A target of 203 shouldn't have been much of a bother on a good batting surface – especially for a side which had chased 271 the previous day – but India made heavy weather of it. Ultimately though, they came through in the crunch for the second time in two days.

The heroes for India were Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh. Kaif didn't get a chance to bat on Saturday, but made the most of his opportunities today. He had his share of luck – a close lbw shout against Sanath Jayasuriya was turned down, though Hawk-Eye showed the ball to be hitting middle-and-leg, and the top-edges off Dilhara Fernando kept eluding the fielders – but Kaif refused to be rattled by the near-misses.

Yuvraj had steered India all the way against England, and almost did the same here. When the two came to the crease, India were 135 for 5 in the 33rd over. More importantly, Sachin Tendulkar, who was expected to stay till the end, had just been dismissed for 49.

Unfazed, Yuvraj and Kaif got on with the job, running between the wickets with hare-like urgency and dispatching the bad balls to the fence. Yuvraj carried on from his Lord's performance, timing the ball superbly. By the time he was dismissed for 31, India were only eight runs from victory.

India's innings had got off to a poor start, with both openers falling to Chaminda Vaas inside the first seven overs. Sourav Ganguly was trapped in front for 7 (17 for 1), and Virender Sehwag holed out to Jayasuriya for 12 (26 for 2).

Tendulkar joined Dinesh Mongia and added 71 for the third wicket in a shade under 14 overs. Mongia was circumspect at the start, but soon blossomed, pulling Zoysa over square leg for six. Tendulkar followed suit, depositing a pacy delivery from Fernando into the crowd. India seemed to be coasting when Mongia threw it away, top-edging a pull to Vaas off Fernando for 33 (97 for 3). Rahul Dravid's subdued 26-ball 8 ended when he played on to Upul Chandana, and when Tendulkar tickled one to the keeper off Zoysa, India were up against it.

Earlier, the Indian bowlers put in a splendid display to restrict Sri Lanka to 202, after birthday-boy Jayasuriya had won the toss. They played an extra seamer – Ashish Nehra came in for Harbhajan Singh – and the move leant far more incisiveness to the attack. Nehra was spot on from the outset, troubling the Sri Lankans with movement and bounce. Zaheer Khan bowled all over the place though, and Sri Lanka sped to 42 in the first seven overs.

That's when Ganguly showed the Midas touch – the first out of three occasions today. He brought in Ajit Agarkar, and he struck with his first ball. Romesh Kaluwitharana chased a wide half-volley and nicked to Dravid behind the stumps for 15 (42 for 1).

Then, India struck twice in four balls. First, Dravid took an excellent catch, leaping in the air to take a top-edge from Jayasuriya off Agarkar to give him his 150th one-day wicket. Jayasuriya had raced to 36 off just 38 balls, and looked good for more. When Marvan Atapattu played on to the first ball of Zaheer's second spell – the second time Ganguly's bowling change worked – Sri Lanka had slumped to 65 for 3.

That became 78 for 4 when the Agarkar-Dravid combination accounted for Russel Arnold (6). Newcomer Naveed Nawaz scratched around for 26 balls in making 11, till Ganguly ended his misery, having him caught at slip (97 for 5). Seeing the pitch offer assistance to the seamers, Ganguly bowled 10 overs on the trot and ended with creditable figures of 1 for 28.

A stubborn 43-run partnership between Jayawardene and Chandana ensued, but Ganguly brought back Nehra and three balls later, Chandana was back in the hutch, miscuing a pull to Kaif at cover.

Jayawardene had batted through the rash of wickets with a calm assurance. His innings was built around the nudges for singles, but with the overs running out, he had begun to force the pace, creaming Agarkar for two fours in an over. However, Zaheer, who had a listless first spell, came back well, foxing Jayawardene with a slower one for 62 (182 for 7).

A late surge from Vaas – 12 came off Agarkar's last over – enabled Sri Lanka to edge past 200. In the end, it proved to be about 25 runs short.

Teams
India 1 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Dinesh Mongia, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Rahul Dravid (wk), 6 Yuvraj Singh 7 Mohammed Kaif, 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Anil Kumble, 11 Zaheer Khan.

Sri Lanka 1 Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), 2 Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), 3 Marvan Attapattu, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Russell Arnold, 6 Naveed Nawaz, 7 Upul Chandana, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Charitha Buddhika, 10 Nuwan Zoysa, 11 Dilhara Fernando.

S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com in India.

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