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Karachi: Ajantha Mendis broke India's back
with a mesmerising six-wicket haul as Sri Lanka won the Asia
Cup cricket tournament with a facile 100-run victory here
Sunday.
Chasing 274, India's much-vaunted batting attack was
bamboozled by Mendis' bag of tricks and the mystery spinner
emerged as the wrecker-in-chief to bundle out India for 173 in
just 39.3 overs.
Mendis' bowling figures read an impressive 8-1-13-6 and
this was the first six-wicket haul in the Asia Cup history.
India's ploy of having an additional batsman did not pay
dividend and only Virender Sehwag (60 off 36) and captain
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (49) managed to salvage their reputation.
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The Indian batsmen thus let down their bowling
colleagues, who had earlier done a decent job by bowling out
Sri Lanka for 273 in 49.5 overs, a total built around Sanath
Jayasuriya's 125-run knock off just 114 balls.
Chaminda Vaas started the rot by removing Gautam Gambhir
(6) in the fifth over before Mendis took over.
In his first over, Mendis foxed an onrushing Sehwag with
a 'flicker' to get him stumped and two balls later, he flicked
another through Yuvraj Singh's gates to castle him for a duck.
In his third over, Mendis disturbed Suresh Raina's (16)
timbers before trapping Rohit Sharma (3) plumb in front four
runs later. In the 32nd over again, he scalped Irfan Pathan
and RP Singh off success deliveries to complete his six-wicket
haul.
Asia Cup 2008
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Earlier, Jayasuriya looked unstoppable in a brilliant 125
runs from 114 balls that included nine fours and five sixes as
he put on a face-saving 131 runs stand for the fifth wicket
with Tillekaratne Dilshan who made 56.
India started well as Ishant Sharma rocked the top order
with three wickets while RP Singh cleaned up the tail with as
many as Sri Lanka struggled to make 57 in the last 10 overs.
Jayasuriya's 27th career hundred rescued Sri Lanka from a
precarious 66 for four in 12 overs after India, in a brave
decision, opted to field first.
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RP Singh suffered badly in the 16th over when a blitz
from Jayasuriya produced 26 runs from six balls taking him
from 61 to 87.
He blasted Singh over the long off area for two sixes and
then drove him for two fours over covers with the final ball
being dispatched over mid-wicket for another six. His partnership with Dilshan, who made his fifty from 68
balls, came at a time when the Lankans were rattled by Sharma.
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India fought back through their spinners Pragyan Ojha,
Rohit Sharma and Virender Sehwag and so tight were the Indians
in their bowling and fielding that despite Jayasuriya's
hundred, Sri Lanka were not able to get a boundary between the
22nd and 40th over.
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