Ishant, Praveen guide India to tri-series final

India's pace battery struck once again as rising speedsters Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar immaculate bowling, who shared eight wickets together, set the tone for India after restricting Sri Lanka to a paltry total of 179 in the Commonwealth Bank series one-day match played at Hobart on Tuesday.

The superb bowling followed by some fine batting as an unbeaten 63 by Gautam Gambhir and a form striking half-century by Sachin Tendulkar guided India to an easy seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka making their way for the finals.

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Chasing a modest target of 180 runs for victory, India lost only three wickets in achieving the goal with still 17.4 overs to spare. Robin Uthappa, who was promoted for opening slot, got out early on a much-eased out wicket.

A 102-run crucial third-wicket stand between Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir helped India to romp home with consummate ease. Tendulkar (63) and Gambhir (64) did the bulk of the scoring as India now faces Australia in a best-of-three-matches finale.

Uthappa lucky to get an amnesty at the score of naught in the very first over of the innings, after Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene dropped him in the slips squadron off Chaminda Vaas, failed to seize the opportunity as he was caught by Ishara Amerasinghe off Lasith Malinga for just 11 off nine balls.

Sachin Tendulkar answered his critics in style, who question his abilities time and again, as he produced range of zipping strokes right from the start. Master blaster looked in ominous form as everything that was coming on to his bat was facing his willow’s ire. He played some sweetly timed cover drives and wristy shots and looked all set for a big score.

Eventually he fell into the trap of veteran offie Muthiah Muralitharan, who struggled throughout the series to find his form, as he tried to loft him over mid-off and had to pay the price of making a mistake by losing his wicket.

His mis-timed shot pouched by Chamara Silva in the mid-off area ending his strokeful innings on 63, which came off 54 balls including ten boundaries.

Yuvraj played some big heaves after he joined the proceedings in the middle following Tendulkar's departure. He came up with a rapid-fire knock of 36, which came off 35 balls including three fours and a massive shot over the park.

He looked in good nick before but lost his wicket as Tilllakaratne Dilshan caught him off Dilruwan Perera.

Gambhir, who remained unbeaten till the end as he scored 63 off 89 balls with five hits to the boundary, played another match-winning knock. He later combined well with youngster Rohit Sharma (3 not out) to take India to the final with a total of 17 points in their tally.

India will fight it out with world champion Aussies, who have 26 points with a match left against Sri Lanka, in the first of the three-finals on Sunday.

Earlier, Sri Lanka’s stunning middle-order collapse against India gave a denting blow to their prospects of reaching the tri-series finals. Sri Lanka innings started off well as they were cruising towards a big total at 72 for one but reduced to 179 all out off 47.1 overs in a virtual semifinal.

India's strike bowler Ishant Sharma (four for 41) and rookie all-rounder Praveen Kumar (four for 31) came up with some superb bowling performance as they by ripped apart Lankan batting line-up.

Veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya found back his lost touch while Kumar Sangakkara continued his good form. The two southpaws Jayasuriya and Sangakkara put on 57 runs off 65 balls for the second wicket before losing out their wickets in quick time.

But much to their dismay Sri Lanka lost quick six wickets in a short span of time as they slumped to 93 for seven from 72-1 in just over 11 overs. Praveen Kumar triggered the Lankan collapse as he claimed his first ODI wicket by scalping Sangakkara at the score of 33, caught behind by Dhoni.

Sharma who is the find of the series again impressed with 4-41, while Kumar, playing his second match of the series, pocketed 4-31.The Delhi-lad Sharma has so far captured 13 wickets in his kitty in the tri-series with an average of 19.46.

Sangakkara was soon followed back to the pavilion by skipper Mahela Jayawardene (3), who was caught by Rohit Sharma off the bowling of Kumar.

Chamara Silva’s bad run with the bat continued as he fell for a duck and Jayasuriya then trapped while attempting a pull from the bowling of Irfan Pathan on 34. Tillakaratne Dilshan made just eight while Chaminda Vaas played a bad shot and went for duck.

Chamara Kapugedera and Lasith Malinga provided some resistance to the Lankan team as the duo added 46 runs for the eighth-wicket before the latter became Sharma's fourth victim. Kapugedera made a great fighting 57 late in the innings, before getting out caught and bowled to Harbhajan Singh.

Teams:

India: M S Dhoni (captain) SR Tendulkar, G Gambhir, R Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel.

Sri Lanka: M Perera, S Jayasuriya, K Sangakkara, M Jayawardene (captain), T Dilshan, L Silva, C Kapugedera, C Vaas, L Malinga, M K D I Amersinghe and M Muralithatan.

SCOREBOARD

Sri Lanka innings
MDK Perera b I Sharma 8
ST Jayasuriya c Dhoni b Pathan 34
KC Sangakkara c Dhoni b Kumar 33
DPMD Jayawardene c RG Sharma b Kumar 3
LPC Silva c Dhoni b Kumar 0
TM Dilshan lbw b I Sharma 8
CK Kapugedera c & b Harbhajan Singh 57
WPUJC Vaas c Gambhir b I Sharma 0
SL Malinga c Uthappa b I Sharma 12
M Muralitharan b Kumar 13
MKDI Amerasinghe not out 0

Extras: 11 (lb 5, w 6)
Total: 179 all out in 47.1 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-72, 3-77, 4-81, 5-81, 6-93, 7-93, 8-139, 9-179 and 10-179

Bowling O M R W Econ
MM Patel 9 0 51 0 5.66 (1w)
I Sharma 10 0 41 4 4.10 (2w)
IK Pathan 10 2 23 1 2.30
P Kumar 10 2 31 4 3.10 (2w)
Harbhajan Singh 4.1 0 17 1 4.08
Yuvraj Singh 4 0 11 0 2.75 (1w)

India innings (Target: 180 runs)
RV Uthappa c Amerasinghe b Malinga 11
SR Tendulkar c Silva b Muralitharan 63
G Gambhir not out 64
Yuvraj Singh c Dilshan b Perera 35
RG Sharma not out 3

Extras: 4 (w 4)
Total: 180 for 3 wickets in 32.2 overs
Did not bat: P Kumar, IK Pathan, MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, I Sharma, MM Patel
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-120 and 3-171

Bowling O M R W Econ

WPUJC Vaas 6 0 29 0 4.83
SL Malinga 6 0 36 1 6.00 (3w)
Amerasinghe 7 0 40 0 5.71
Muralitharan 8.2 0 54 1 6.48 (1w)
ST Jayasuriya 1 0 4 0 4.00
MDK Pereira 4 0 17 1 4.25

Result: India won the match by 7 wickets
Toss: India won the toss and chose to field first
Man of the match: P Kumar (India)
Umpires: RE Koertzen (South Africa) and SJA Taufel
TV Umpire: BNJ Oxenford
Match Referee: JJ Crowe (New Zealand)