LANKA RUN DOWN INDIA
Mendis, Danushka drive dagger into Kohli’s heart with clinical chase of 321
Pedestrian bowling performance from defending champions India saw them slump to an unexpected seven-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka in a highscoring ICC Champions Trophy Group ‘B’ contest here on Thursday.
Riding on Shikhar Dhawan’s 125 and half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India piled 321 for 6 only to be stunned by unfancied Lankan batting line-up that produced a splendid batting show to knock off the runs in 48.4 overs.
Danushka Gunathilaka (76 off 72 balls) and Kusal Mendis (89 off 93) added 159 runs to lay the platform before skipper Angelo Mathews (52 no off 44 balls) coolly finished off the job in company of Kusal Janith Perera (47 retired hurt) and Asela Gunaratne (34 n.o off 21 balls).
Arguably, the biggest upset of the tournament also threw the group wide open with all four teams — India, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka in with a chance to qualify.
India now must beat South Africa on Sunday in order to qualify for the semifinals.
For India, the 103 runs conceded — Hardik Pandya (51 off 7 overs) and Ravindra Jadeja (52 off 6 overs) in 13 overs — tilted the game decisively in favour of the Lankans on what was a batting strip on which a target of 322 looked par for course.
Call it complacency or inability to gauge the strength of an unknown entity, the Indian bowling lacked the required discipline as Gunathilaka and Mendis rolled back the years giving a glimpse of the Lankan sides of mid and late 90s.
They were hardly bothered by any bowler during their 159 run stand.
Left-hander Gunathilaka especially was severe first up, hitting seven fours and two sixes. The first one was using Umesh Yadav’s extra pace to pull it behind square while the next was another pull in-front of square when Hardik erred in length.
What hurt India during the phase was poor show from Jadeja, whose first six overs cost 52 runs including seven fours and a six.
Mendis was severe on him as he bowled short and the fact that he didn’t get any purchase from the pitch made life tougher.
With regular bowlers failing to do the job, captain Kohli brought himself and Kedar Jadhav. Gunathilaka was run-out, much because of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s quicksilver reflexes.
India made further inroads when the other set batsman, Mendis, too was run-out, courtesy brilliant pick up and throw off his own bowling by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
But skipper Mathews and Perera added 75 runs in 10.2 overs to ensure the islanders did not lose momentum.