Islanders’ middle-order collapse meant they could only manage 201

press trust of india
Port of Spain, 11 July
India benefited immensely after Sri Lanka’s middle and lower-order batsmen committed hara-kiri, which saw the team lose eight wickets for just 30 runs before being bundled out for 201 in the final of the Tri-nation ODI series here today.
Sent into bat, Sri Lanka were sitting pretty at 171 for two in the 38th over, but lack of application on part of their batsmen saw them being packed off with seven balls left in their innings.
Ravindra Jadeja was the most successful Indian bowlers, returning figures of 4/23, while there were two wickets-a-piece for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Earlier, in-from Bhuvneshwar made use of seaming conditions to send back Upul Tharanga and Mahela Jayawardene.
Incidentally, the duo had punished India with a double-century partnership in the match that Bhuvneshwar was dropped.
Sri Lanka then rode on Kumar Sangakkara (71) and Lahiru Thirimanne’s 122-run partnership for the third wicket to stage a fightback before their innings disintegrated largely due to some mindless batting.
 Thirimanne scored 46 off 72 balls while Sangakkara got his runs in 100 deliveries.
From a comfortable position with about 12 overs to go, Sri Lanka were left licking their wounds at 193 for seven in the 46th over when skipper Angelo Mathews got out.
 None of the last six batsmen could reach double figures.
Sri Lanka made a cautious start on a pitch that was not conducive for stroke-play.
But after reaching 27 in the seventh over, the islanders suffered their first blow when Bhuvneshwar changed his angle to induce an inside edge from Upul Tharanga. Dhoni did the rest behind the stumps.
The ever-consistent Bhuvneshwar was at it again, in the 14th over, as he removed Jayawardene with an innocuous delivery that moved a bit on landing at the Queen’s Park Oval.
Losing the experienced Jayawardene so early in the innings was a big blow for the Lankans and they desperately needed solidity at that point of time.
Sri Lanka found the answer to their worries in the form of another veteran, Sangakkara, who anchored the innings.
Sangakkara mixed caution with common sense as he realised early that playing expansive shots was not the way to go about the task on this wicket.
Playing equally responsibly at the other end was Thirimanne who complemented his senior partner to prop up Sr Lanka’s innings.

India were 146 for the loss of five wickets at the time of going to press. Ravindra Jadeja (1) and MS Dhoni (2) were at the crease.