Sri Lankan batsmen Mahela Jayawardene and Chamara Kapugedera steered the home side to a comfortable eight wicket victory in the opening match of their one-day international cricket series with India in Dambulla yesterday.
The pair put on an unbeaten 102 for the third wicket after the visitor’s Munaf Patel had dismissed openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakarra.
Jayasuriya was first to go, caught by Irfan Pathan off Patel for 10 before Sangakarra was caught and bowled by the Indian pace bowler for 19.
Jayawardene finished on 61 and Kapugedera was unbeaten on 45 as the hosts knocked off the 147 runs they needed for victory in only 34.5 overs.
Earlier, Sri Lanka spinners Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan grabbed three wickets each to leave India struggling.
Mendis took three for 21 and senior bowling partner Muralitharan three for 37 to rip through the batting in 46 overs after the visitors won the toss and elected to bat.
India, missing in-form opening batsman Virender Sehwag due to injury, struggled from the start with Yuvraj Singh the top-scorer with just 23.
Left-arm paceman Chaminda Vaas struck in the first over, bowling Gautam Gambhir for a duck with a delivery that nipped back.
His new ball partner Nuwan Kulasekera trapped Virat Kohli leg before for 12, the former under-19 captain having come in after Sehwag twisted his ankle in practice on Sunday.
Kulasekera also had Suresh Raina caught at short cover by Chamara Silva, the batsman mistiming his drive on the slow-paced pitch to reduce the innings to three for 36.
India hinted at a recovery with Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma (19) adding 37 for the fourth wicket but wickets tumbled once spin was introduced, with Mendis bowling Yuvraj in his first over.
Mendis also claimed the prize scalp of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (6), Jayawardene taking a sharp catch at slip off an attempted cut.
Thilan Thushara, Sri Lanka’s third seamer in a five-bowler line-up, then had Sharma caught at slip.
Muralitharan was fortunate to remove Irfan Pathan (7), adjudged leg before after playing a “doosra” delivery onto his pads, before he had Zaheer Khan (12) caught in the deep and dismissed Harbhajan Singh (12).
Pragyan Ohja (16 not out) and Munaf Patel (15) added 29 runs for the last wicket.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but