Openers Mahela Jayawardene and Upul Tharanga gave Sri Lanka a superb start against India in the third match of the Celkon Mobile Cup tri-nation one-day international series at Sabina Park on Tuesday. At the end of the 25th over, Sri Lanka were 120 without loosing any wicket. Jayawardene and Upul Tharanga were unbeaten on 63 and 51, respectively.
After electing to bowl, Indian bowlers failed to make any impact.
Jayawardene, who played a reverse sweep off Ravindra Jadeja in the 13th over, was lucky to get away on 25 as Murali Vijay dropped a high chance at short third-man. Apart from the dropped catch, a missed run-out chance also hurt India as the pair grew in with confidence.
In the mandatory Powerplay, Lankans scored 47 runs before reaching the fifty in 10.5 overs. The century partnership between Jayawardene and Tharanga came in 127 balls. While a classy Jayawardene took 60 balls to reach his fifty, it took 76 deliveries for Tharanga.
Earlier, stand-in Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and put Sri Lanka in to bat. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was ruled out of the rest of the tournament because of a hamstring strain sustained while batting against the West Indies on Sunday.
As Kohli took charge, Murali Vijay replaced Dhoni in the final XI, while seamer Shami Ahmed came in for Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the other change from the side that lost their opening match by one wicket to the hosts. Sri Lanka were also seeking their first points before the competition shifts to the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad.
The team led by all-rounder Angelo Mathews had two changes from the opening loss to the West Indies on Friday. Batsman Kusal Perera and off-spinning all-rounder Sachithra Senanayake replaced Jeevan Mendis and Ajantha Mendis respectively. It was the 42nd meeting between the neighbours in the last five years.