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Good stand by Dhoni, Raina

S. Ram Mahesh

Yuvraj is Vaas’s victim No. 400

— Photo: AP

Captain’s knock: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, after starting off slowly, strung together a solid partnership with Suresh Raina.

Colombo: Suresh Raina (76, 78b, 6x4, 1x6) and M.S. Dhoni (71, 80b, 4x4) appeared to control the first half of the fourth ODI — played here at the Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday, the reserve day, after Tuesday’s play was washed out — before Sri Lanka fought back through Thilan Thushara.

From 224 for three in the 41st over with Raina and Dhoni still together, India crashed — bowled out for 258 in 49.4 overs.

Left-armer Thushara who ended the 143-run stand (141b) for the fourth wicket, returned figures of five for 47 in 8.4 overs. He was brisk, touching speeds of over 140 kmph, but there will be occasions when he will bowl better for fewer rewards.

Lucky with the toss

Dhoni earlier won his fourth consecutive toss this series, choosing to bat on a track that appeared dry, blanched surprisingly of Tuesday’s moisture. “It’s very difficult to believe I have won four tosses in a row,” said the Indian captain, playing an unchanged eleven from the last game. “It looks a good track, a bit drier than the previous ones.”

Virat Kohli’s 54 — the 19-year-old’s maiden ODI half-century — was by far his best all-round batting performance of the tour. This isn’t to say the compromising foibles of the earlier games were cut out altogether: the over-reaching bottom hand continued to land him in trouble outside the off-stump when not bringing runs to third-man.

But Kohli showed enough to suggest that this stint with the one-day squad will not be a one-off. He certainly overshadowed his senior partner, Gautam Gambhir, who fell lashing a wide delivery behind point, where Tillakaratne Dilshan timed his leap to perfection.

Kohli’s play through the on-side was crisp — the bottom hand, which caused grief against length outside the off-stump, whipping smartly through.

Best stroke

Kohli’s best stroke, from the perspective of how much he can improve, was a cover drive on the up off Nuwan Kulasekara. The pace was comfortable, the surface slowed it further, but Kohli didn’t push at it, as is his wont. He held his form beautifully, unweighting at the right moment. But Thushara had the right-hander forcing his hands at one angled across him. The exposed inside edge was sought, and the stumps were rearranged.

Chaminda Vaas had earlier reached a heart-warming milestone, becoming only the fourth bowler, and the second Sri Lanka, to claim 400 ODI wickets (Wasim Akram, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Waqar Younis, the others). Yuvraj Singh, batting again at number three, played inside one that cut in from Vaas’s left-arm-over angle, but Kumar Sangakkara, standing up, couldn’t glove the nick.

The 34-year-old wasn’t to be denied long, however, and when Yuvraj chipped a cutter to short mid-wicket, Vaas raised his arms to the clouded skies and threw his head back.

“His is a huge contribution,” Jayawardene, who took the catch, had said. “Especially in the sub-continent, it is not an easy task to go for so long and be very consistent. I think he and Murali have done the job for us for quite some time. Now, the younger brigade is coming through, but these two have been the role models. So hats off to Vaasy for going on for so long. 400 is a great milestone for anybody.”

Partnership

Raina and Dhoni demonstrated how a partnership is put together. Raina, who notched up his second straight score of over 50, was the busier of the two in the beginning. The left-hander slant-batted Kulasekara past point, before dealing adeptly with Mendis.

He charged the mystery spinner and hit him over the top; next, he worked Mendis wide of mid-on, timing it so well that not even the slow outfield would deny him a boundary.

Dhoni’s first 18 balls fetched just five runs. But the 27-year-old, a master of timing an innings, caught up, his wonderfully home-spun technique taking him to 50 in 60 balls with just three fours. Raina and Dhoni ran expertly between wickets, often turning blind (not advocated for everybody) and exerting pressure on the boundary-riders.

But Dhoni began to struggle in the humidity, indicating that he was feeling dizzy, and took a runner on 66, when Raina departed, trying one inside-out lofted drive too many. Thushara struck again, removing the other partner, courtesy a lunging catch by Sanath Jayasuriya in the covers, as India rapidly lost momentum. The batsmen that followed wilted, guilty of not the cleverest cricket.

SCOREBOARD

India: V. Kohli b Thushara 54, G. Gambhir c Dilshan b Kulasekara 17, Yuvraj c Jayawardene b Vaas 0, S. Raina c Kulasekara b Thushara 76, M.S. Dhoni c Jayasuriya b Thushara 71, Rohit c Warnapura b Mendis 18, S. Badrinath c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 6, Harbhajan run out 2, Praveen b Thushara 2, Zaheer c Warnapura b Thushara 0, Munaf (not out) 1; Extras: (b-1, lb-5, w-5) 11; Total: (in 49.4 overs) 258.

Fall of wickets: 1-44 (Gambhir), 2-51 (Yuvraj), 3-81 (Kohli), 4-224 (Raina), 5-232 (Dhoni), 6-243 (Badrinath), 7-253 (Harbhajan), 8-256 (Rohit), 9-257 (Praveen).

PP1 (1-10): 44/1; PP2 (11-15): 20/1; PP3 (16-20): 28/1.

Sri Lanka bowling: Vaas 9-1-40-1, Kulasekara 8-0-38-1, Thushara 8.4-0-47-5, Mendis 10-1-43-1, Muralitharan 10-0-56-1, Jayasuriya 4-0-28-0.

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