Sri Lanka beat India by four wickets on Wednesday to ruin the celebrations of Sourav Ganguly, who became only the third batsman to score 10,000 one-day runs, after returning from a four-match ban.
Mahela Jayawardene crashed Ganguly's party with a solid 94 not out to clinch a remarkable win for the hosts in the triangular one-day-series match.
Chasing 221 to win, Sri Lanka were tottering at 95-6 before Jayawardene put on a record 126 for the unfinished seventh wicket with Upul Chandana to steer his team home with 12 balls to spare in the day-night game.
PHOTO: AP
Jayawardene held his nerve under pressure, executing handsome shots on both sides of the wicket to keep pressure on the Indian fielders during his 22nd half-century which contained one six and nine fours.
None of the Indian bowlers looked impressive as Jayawardene kept finding gaps in the field to win the match from a hopeless situation. He received valuable support from Chandana, who hit 45 not out.
Their stand was Sri Lanka's highest for the seventh wicket, surpassing the previous best of 110 between Aravinda de Silva and Kumar Dharmasena against Pakistan at Nairobi in 1996-97.
Sri Lanka, who rested key players Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas, needed just one big stand to stun India.
The hosts have virtually qualified for the final with their third successive win. India have one win after three games and the West Indies none after two.
Jayawardene was not the only star in the remarkable Sri Lankan victory as part-time spinner Tillakaratne Dilshan grabbed a career-best 4-29 to restrict India to a modest total on a slow track after they were well placed at 117-1.
Ganguly's 51 made him only the third batsman after compatriot Sachin Tendulkar and Pakistan's Inzamam-ul-Haq to reach the 10,000-run milestone.
Tendulkar is the leading scorer with 13,642 runs in 348 matches, followed by Inzamam with 10,933 in 344. Ganguly reached 10,000 in 272 one-dayers.
Ganguly held centre-stage in the afternoon. He put on 67 for the opening wicket with Virender Sehwag (32) and 50 for the second with Venkatsai Laxman (22) after his team elected to bat.
But off-spinner Dilshan neutralised India's early advantage with his career-best figures. India were strongly placed following Ganguly's 60th half-century before faltering against Dilshan, who reduced the tourists to 161-6.
Ganguly was captain when suspended for his team's slow over-rate against Pakistan in a home one-day series in April. He was also out of form against Inzamam's Pakistani side in both the Test and one-day series.
Ganguly took time to settle down but grew steadily in confidence. He applied himself well against both seamers and spinners, taking no risks during his 110-ball knock as India made an impressive start.
However Sehwag, who made 14 and two in his last two games, never looked at his best. He was dropped on four and six before dragging a ball on to his stumps to become debutant seamer Pradeep Jayaprakashdharan's first victim.
The Indian opener was first let off by wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara and then by Jayawardene at first slip, each time off the luckless Farveez Maharoof.
Maharoof was reprimanded by match referee Mike Procter of South Africa for excessive appealing during a match against the West Indies in Dambulla on Tuesday.
Shane Warne has upped the mind games against faltering England by declaring he has a new mystery delivery which he believes will help Australia retain the cricket Ashes.
Test cricket's leading wicket-taker claimed six wickets in Australia's massive first Test victory at Lord's last month and reportedly has more spin terrors for Michael Vaughan's team in the second Edgbaston Test that got under way yesterday.
After losing the toss, England were 132 for one at lunch yesterday.
Marcus Trescothick was 77 not out and England captain Michael Vaughan one not out. Australia lead the five-Test series 1-0.
Warne has been working on the delivery with his spin guru Terry Jenner in the nets and was keeping it all under wraps ahead of the second match of the series.
"We worked on a new delivery, which was extremely effective in the first Test," Warne told Sydney's Daily Telegraph yesterday.
"I can't give anything away at the moment but I can tell you there will be more to come on that delivery in this series.
"Am I talking rubbish about the new ball? The Poms will just have to wait and see."
The 35-year-old leg-spinner has been tormenting English batsmen for 12 years and has captured 589 wickets in 124 Tests -- 138 of them against England in 27 matches.
Warne said former Test leg-spinner Jenner's input had been vital going into the first Test.
"Following our first Test win I owe a big thank you to Terry for his help with my action," Warne said.
"It's always nice to catch up with the world's best spin doctor who happens to know my bowling better than anyone.
"We worked on alignment and just straightening me up in my approach to the crease and the position of my arm."
Warne, who has used every opportunity to sow doubt into the minds of England's batsmen over the years, wondered aloud whether England have slipped back into their old ways.
"Dropping catches and losing the first Ashes Test badly. Haven't we seen it all plenty of times before?" he asked.
"Was all the hype and expectation nothing more than wishful thinking? Are the Poms the real deal? "I can't give a definitive answer to that one, but I do know we have only won one Test and there are four more to play," he said.
Warne, the greatest spinner of the modern era, troubled England at Lord's with two of his specialty deliveries: the leg-break and the "slider".
All of England's batsmen, apart from Kevin Pietersen, appeared unable to distinguish between them.
Warne's "slider" is bowled with the same action as the leg-break, and from a distance it looks quite similar, but the subtle difference is that it is pushed out of the front of the hand rather than spun out of the side.
Upon pitching, it goes straight on and low, confounding the batsman.
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