Sri Lanka vs India – Commonwealth Bank series - Match Updates - First Ten Overs
Sri Lanka made a solid start after their newly appointed skipper, Mahela Jayawardene, decided to bat first against India at the Western Australia Cricket Association Ground Perth, February 8, 2012.
Upul Tharanaga and Tillakaratne Dilshan opened the innings but were restricted to just 3 in the first over bowled by pacer Zaheer Khan, who got considerable movement from the quick track.
Dilshan showed his aggressive nature by hitting two boundaries to the cover region off Praveen Kumar'sover. The bowler was guilty off over pitching the ball wide of off-stump.
With Zaheer getting movement off the pitch, he struck in his second over dismissing Tharanga (4), as the left-hander edged the ball to first slip, where Sachin Tendulkar made no mistake. Kumar Sangakkara arrived to the crease and played out the rest of the over without scoring a run.
Vinay Kumar replaced Praveen, and bowled an excellent first over as the Lankans were pushed to the back foot. Khan then troubled the left-handed Sangakarra with a swinging delivery, which took a leading edge and went to the third-man boundary – luckily flying past the slip cordon.
With the track offering bounce, Vinay conceded four leg-byes after his delivery struck Dishan’s helmet and went sailing over the keeper’s head.
The left-armer, who was brought in as a replacement for the injured Rahul Sharma, was then punished by the opener, who hit a crisply timed boundary down the ground, before pouncing on a loose delivery off Vinay, which went to the wide mid-off region.
The run rate now started to climb with both players looking settled after the initial breakthrough picked up by the Men in Blue. At the end of 10th over, the Lankans had reached 46 for 1, and will be relying on the veteran duo to form a solid partnership in their first game Down Under.
Earlier, the Indian team rested left-handed opener, Guatam Gambhir with Virender Sehwag making a return to the team. As for their opponents, they went with a four-pronged pace attack, spear headed by Lasith Malinga.