Dambulla, Aug 22 : Thisara Perera claimed his maiden five-wicket haul as Sri Lanka crushed India by eight wickets to storm into the final of the One-day International (ODI) tri-nation series here Sunday.
The last league ODI between India and New Zealand Wednesday would be a virtual semifinal and the winner will take Sri Lanka in the final Saturday.
Perera, 21, impressed in his first match of the tournament with figures 5-28 in 7.4 overs as Sri Lanka, needing to win the match to reach final, shot out India for 103 in 33.4 overs and cruised to the target in 15.1 overs, losing openers Tillakaratne Dilshan (35) and Mahela Jayawardene (33).
It was India's fourth lowest total in ODIs while batting first. The Indian team's fragile batting was thoroughly exposed again barely a week after they were dismissed for 88 by a fiery New Zealand pace attack in the first match of the series which they lost by 200 runs.
Perera was well complemented by Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara, who took two wickets each to hand India it's biggest loss in terms of ball to spare.
In reply, Jayawardene, who came up the order, and Dilshan gave Sri Lanka a blazing start with their 79-run opening stand before Upul Tharanga (12 not out) and Kumar Sangakkara (13 not out) completed the formalities. Jayawardene's 35-ball knock included six fours while Dilshan hit eight fours in his 23 ball innings. Ishant Sharma (2-15) took the two Sri Lankan wickets.
India, deciding to bat, failed to get their act together and suffered a top order collapse.
Yuvraj Singh, returning after a bout of dengue fever, was the only saving grace with a top score of 38 from 64 balls. His innings included five fours and a six. The rest of the Indian batsmen fell like ninepins.
Sri Lanka was given the breakthrough by Kulasekara, who dismissed Indian openers Virender Sehwag (12) and Dinesh Karthik (9) to leave India reeling at 26 for two. The Sri Lankan seamer trapped Sehwag leg before in the sixth over and then tempted Karthik to nick, only to be caught behind.
But the day belonged to Perera, who rattled the middle order to dash any hopes of an Indian revival.
Perera, in the 26th over, snapped Ravindra Jadeja and Praveen Kumar in successive deliveries and was on a hattrick but Ashish Nehra survived albeit for a brief while.
Perera completed his spectacular spell when he knocked off the wicket of Ishant Sharma.
© IANS
