Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag led India to a comprehensive 147-run victory at the Premadasa Stadium.
India 363 for 5 (Yuvraj 117, Sehwag 116, Pathan 59*) beat Sri Lanka 216 (Sangakkara 83, Ojha 4-38) by 147 runs
There was a big-hitting cameo from Yusuf Pathan and four wickets for the promising Pragyan Ojha as the series was wrapped up with two games to spare. Kumar Sangakkara’s classy 83 proved to be little more than a footnote on a day when Sri Lanka were again way off the pace.
After being reduced to 24 for 2, Yuvraj came in and finally departed after making 117 off 95 balls, but there was no real zest to Murali’s celebration. By then, the partnership was worth 221, from just only balls. Sehwag left not long after, for 116 off 90 balls, when Jayasuriya threw the stumps down from mid-off. The scoreboard showed 265, and there were still 15.1 overs to be bowled. Yusuf Pathan then clouted three mighty sixes down the ground on his way to a 33-ball half-century, and though Mahendra Singh Dhoni was initially circumspect, the damage had already been done.
Things started going down hill during the chase pretty early on, Jayasuriya bowled first ball.
67-run partnership between Sangakkara and Jayawardene was not enough to fight against such huge rans. Sri Lanka were never in the contest.
Pragyan Ojha, taken for two fours in his opening over, turned one right across Chamara Kapugedera’s bat to hit middle stump. And with the ball gripping and turning, Ojha turned in his best one-day display 9-0-37-4.
Yuvraj Singh is declared the Man of the Match.
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