Ind vs SL: Dilshan scores fifty to lead Sri Lankan charge

NEW DELHI: Sri Lankan opener Tillakaratne Dilshan played a steady knock to take Sri Lanka past 100 runs against India in the 11th ODI of the tri-series at Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

Match Scorecard

Dilshan reached to his 27th ODI half-century in 68 balls, smashing five boundaries in his second knock of more than fifty in the series.

Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara have also completed half-century stand for the second wicket after India struck in the 12th over to claim the first Sri Lankan wicket.

Ravindra Jadeja gave India first breakthrough when skipper Mahela Jayawardene went for late cut but got inside edge that went to the first slip where Virender Sehwag showed good reflexes and pouched it safely.

Sri Lanka got off to a steady start as Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan have added 49 runs in 12 overs for the opening wicket after being sent into bat first.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who just won the second toss of the entire series, decided to field in an attempt to claim a vital bonus-point win over Sri Lanka.

Senior paceman Zaheer Khan returned to the Indian team in place of injured Irfan Pathan while Sri Lanka retained the same playing eleven.

If India can beat Sri Lanka with a bonus point on Tuesday, they will earn themselves an outside chance of remaining in the tri-series. If not, they can finally take the flight home.

India will have to chase down whatever total Sri Lanka manage in 40 overs to earn the bonus point. After the defeat against Australia on Sunday, the Indians assumed that the tri-series was over for them.

India would not only need a win with a bonus point to remain alive but also hope that Australia would somehow prevail over Lanka in the last league match on Melbourne on March 2.

A bonus point though looks a wild dream for a team which is getting all-out in most of the matches and have suffered defeats by the margin of 101, 51 and 87 runs in last three successive matches.

Teams: 

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Thisara Perera, Angelo Matthews, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Rangana Herath and Ferveez Maharoof.