India suffer (S)a(chi)nother Series Loss

While India made no changes to their playing eleven, Sri Lanka made a couple of changes to theirs – Ruwan Kalpage and Ravindra Pushpakumara made way for Muttiah Muralitharan and Sajeewa de Silva.

On winning the toss, Tendulkar, India’s skipper, (Sach)inserted the hosts. Jayasuriya, the player of the series, faced five balls, scoring (Sana)three. He was caught by Ajay Jadeja. Abey Kuruvilla broke the three-run stand.

Marvan Atapattu, who faced 12 balls, scored three. He was caught by Mohammad Azharuddin. Kuruvilla broke the 19-run stand. Roshan Mahanama, whose 61-ball innings included five boundaries, scored 50. Nilesh Kulkarni broke the 83-run partnership.

Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lanka’s skipper, faced half-a-dozen balls, scoring three. Kulkarni broke the eight-run stand. Lanka de Silva, whose 58-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 50. He was caught by Tendulkar. Kuruvilla broke the 82-run stand.

Upul Chandana, whose 19-ball innings included a boundary, scored 16. Rajesh Chauhan broke the 31-run stand. Aravinda de Silva, the player of the match, scored 104. His 117-ball innings included seven boundaries. He was caught by Azharuddin. Kulkarni broke the 28-run stand.

Dulip Liyanage, whose 18-ball innings included a boundary and the only six of the innings, scored 20. He was caught by Jadeja. Tendulkar broke the two-run stand. Although Muralitharan's four-ball innings included a boundary, he had no reason to be in seventh heaven – he was caught by Tendulkar. Kuruvilla broke the eight-run stand.

The (Kuruvil)last-wicket pair didn’t get off the mark. Kumar Dharmasena, who faced a couple of balls, scored a run. The Mumbaikar ran him out. Sajeewa, who faced a ball, didn’t open his account. He was unbeaten.

India conceded seven extras. Sri Lanka were dismissed for 264 off 49.4 overs. Sourav Ganguly, who bowled three wicketless overs, conceded 19. Venkatesh Prasad, who bowled six wicketless overs, conceded 31. Robin Singh, who bowled seven wicketless overs, conceded 32.

Tendulkar, who faced five balls, conceded 22. He picked up a wicket, as did Chauhan, who bowled 10 overs. He conceded 43. Kulkarni, who bowled 10 overs, conceded 73. He picked up three wickets. Kuruvilla bowled 8.4 overs, including a maiden. He conceded 43, picking up four scalps.

Tendulkar, whose 32-ball innings included three boundaries and a couple of sixes, scored 39. He was caught by Lanka. Sajeewa broke the 50-run partnership. Ganguly, whose 23-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 17. He was caught by Sajeewa, who broke the 28-run stand.

Singh, whose 41-ball innings included three boundaries and a six, scored 28. He was caught by the substitute (Kalpage). Muralitharan broke the 29-run stand. Rahul Dravid, whose 68-ball included four boundaries, scored 42. He was caught by Chandana. Jayasuriya broke the 58-run partnership.

The fifth-wicket pair put on 56. Jadeja, whose 32-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 22. Aravinda ran him out. The sixth-wicket pair put on half-a-dozen. Azharuddin, whose 68-ball innings included four boundaries, scored 65. Atapattu and Lanka ran him out.

Nayan Mongia, who faced 19 balls, scored 14. He was unbeaten. Chauhan, who faced nine balls, scored four. He was caught by Liyanage. Chandana broke the eight-run stand. Although Kuruvilla's four-ball innings included a six, he wasn’t in seventh heaven, because he was caught by Jayasuriya, who broke the 10-run stand.

Kulkarni, who faced five balls, scored three. He was unbeaten. Sri Lanka conceded 14 extras. India, who scored 255 for the loss of eight wickets off 50 overs, lost by nine runs. Liyanage bowled five wicketless overs, including a maiden. He conceded 36.

Dharmasena bowled nine wicketless overs, conceding 33. Chandana, who bowled eight overs, conceded 31. He picked up a wicket, as did Muralitharan, who bowled 10 overs, conceding 41. Sajeewa bowled eight overs, conceding 48. He picked up two wickets, as did Jayasuriya, who bowled 10 overs, conceded 56.

The hosts swept the three-match series 3-0.