India beat SL by six wickets

31 July 2012 04:48 pm Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 48 Bookmark

CHATURANGA PRADEEP SAMARAWICKRAMA Follow

A A A

India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets in the fourth one-day international at R. Premadasa Stadium to lead 3-1 in the five-match series.

Manoj Tiwary assumed the role of the main strike bowler for India, taking a career-best four wickets to help restrict Sri Lanka to a competitive 251 for eight in the fourth one-day international.

Tiwary, who was called up to the side for his batting, took the prized wickets of Dinesh Chandimal (28), Anjelo Mathews (14), Jeewan Mendis (17) and Thisara Perera 2 to finish with figures of 4-61.

Opener Upul Tharanga scored the only half-century for Sri Lanka, which batted first after winning the toss. He laid a solid foundation, sharing 91 runs for the opening wicket with Tillakaratne Dilshan (42) but Sri Lanka's middle and lower order failed to capitalize on the strong start.

Dilshan miscued a pull shot against seam bowler Ashok Dinda trying to increase the scoring rate during a batting power play and India captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni held a well-judged catch. Dilshan faced 48 deliveries and hit seven boundaries.

Tharanga was stumped off spin bowler Ravichandran Ashwin. He faced 73 balls, hit a six and four boundaries. Lahiru Thirimanne, taking the No. 3 spot of injured prolific batsman Kumar Sangakkara, was dropped on 16 but was solid during the rest of his innings, scoring 47 runs without a boundary.

Sri Lanka lost four wickets for 29 runs toward the latter stages of its innings but 32 runs off 18 balls from the ninth-wicket pair of Rangana Herath and Lasith Malinga gave the home side hope of competing against a deep Indian batting lineup.

India bolstered its batting by calling up Tiwary after dropping specialist legspin bowler Rahul Sharma. Sri Lanka called in Thirimanne for Sangakkara who picked up a finger injury during the third match. Seam bowler Isuru Udana was dropped and was replaced by Nuwan Pradeep.

Scorers: India 255-4 (Virat Kohli 128 not out, Suresh Raina 58 not out; Anjelo Mathews 1-18) def. Sri Lanka 251-8 (Upul Tharanga 51, Lahiru Thirimanne 47; Manoj Tiwary 4-61, Ravichandran Ashwin 2-46). (Source: 3news)