India beat Sri Lanka in the third game of the Micromax Cup tri-series by six wickets and with nearly 16 overs to spare. With this win, the Indians got a bonus point, but had to be content with Virender Sehwag remaining unbeaten on 99.
Chasing 171 for a win, Indians were off to a slow start, as the opening batsmen added only 30 in ne overs. Dinesh Karthik was then dismissed when he slashed the ball to the deep third-man fielder. However, worse was to follow for the Indian side, as they lost both, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, for ducks to leave the side struggling at 32/3. Angelo Mathews had two wickets for him whereas Dilhara Fernando scalped one.
The Indians clawed back into the game through a partnership between Sehwag and Suresh Raina, both of whom eschewed any kind of risk from their batting. Sehwag was brutal on anything that was short and wide, but on most occasions he exhibited restraint and the pair added 59 runs for the fourth wicket.
It looked like the two had seen through the initial difficult period and would be able to bat through and chase down 171 for the win. However, when the score was 91/3, Raina got a short ball from Fernando, which he tried to pull over the fence but only managed to spoon a simple catch to square-leg. Just when it looked like India would end up coasting for a win, the side had lost a wicket.
At 91/4 in 22 overs, the Indians would have been in a dilemma, whether to play out for the win, but forget about the bonus point or to keep the bonus point in the mind as well. As it turned out MS Dhoni provided a welcome relief to Sehwag, as he kept one end up without getting out. Sehwag turned on the heat at the other end, and the pair saw the Indians through to a win.
Sehwag was on 99 with the Indians needing five to win, and was on strike. However, four of those runs came off byes, and then Suraj Randiv bowled a no-ball to end the game, with the batsman remaining unbeaten on 99.
Earlier, the Indians had started off well by getting rid of Upul Tharanga for a duck off the first ball of the game. Tillakaratne Dilshan made a 45 at the top, but none of the others in the first five contributed too many. It was only some late-order aggression by Randiv (43) and Nuwan Kulasekera (22) that took the Lankans to 170. As it turned out, the total was never going to be enough.
India had won with a bonus point and ensured that they finished the first leg of the league stage on five points. New Zealand also has five, whereas Sri Lanka are third at four.