Sri Lanka Thrash India To Reach Tri-Series Final

Sri Lanka Thrash India To Reach Tri-Series Final

Tissara Perera (left) took five wickets as Sri Lanka bowled India out for just 103 in Dambulla

©REUTERS/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds (SRI LANKA - Tags: SPORT CRICKET) Picture Supplied by Action Images

Sri Lanka 104-2 (Dilshan 35, Jayawardene 33) beat
India 103 (Yuvraj Singh 38, Perera 5-28) by eight wickets
One-Day International tri-series game five, Dambulla
Scorecard

Sri Lanka booked their place in the One-Day International tri-series final with a crushing eight-wicket win over India in the fifth game of the tournament in Dambulla.

After dismissing India for just 103, Sri Lanka raced to their modest victory target in just 15.1 overs to earn a bonus-point win in emphatic style.

Chief engineer of India's alarming collapse from 50 for two to 103 all out in 33.4 overs was all-rounder Tissara Perera, who returned career-best figures in any form of one-day cricket of five for 28 by dismissing Suresh Raina (8), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (10), Ravi Jadeja (0), Praveen Kumar (0) and Ishant Sharma (3) while two wickets apiece from Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara hurried India's innings to a swift completion.

Yuvraj Singh top scored with 38 in 64 balls and only four players reached double figures - such was Sri Lanka's dominance that they only called upon four bowlers.

They didn't let up with the bat either, as openers Mahela Jayawardene (33 in 35 balls) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (35 in 23 deliveries) quicky ended any hopes India had of getting back into the game.

The pair put on 79 in 9.2 overs before Dilshan was caught by Nehra off Ishant Sharma and although Jayawardene also fell to the same bowler, Sri Lanka were able to cruise home with Upul Tharanga unbeaten on 12 and Kumar Sangakkara on 13.

New Zealand play India in the final group game on Wednesday (25th August) ahead of the final on 28th August.

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