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Gritty India snatch a win at Rajkot run-feast
India held their nerves even when Dilshan and Sangakkara made their total of 414 runs look achievable, and struck towards the end to beat Lanka by 3 runs.
- NDTV
- Updated: December 15, 2009 12:39 PM IST
Read Time: 6 min
Rajkot:
Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara's blistering knocks put Sri Lanka on the threshold of victory but the Indians held their nerves well to restrict the islanders for 411/8 against their highest ever total of 414/7 and sneak a 3-run win in the first ODI at Rajkot.
Both the teams made 400-plus runs for the second time. While India had made 413 runs against Bermuda during 2007 World Cup, Sri Lanka had scored 443 runs against the Netherlands.
India surpassed their highest score of 413 with a blazing 102-ball 146 runs from opener Virender Sehwag, who had a 153-run first-wicket stand with Sachin Tendulkar and 156-run partnership with skipper MS Dhoni for the second wicket.
After the Indians rattled up 414 of 7, Dilshan (160) and Sangakkara (90 off 43 balls) launched a ruthless assault but the Indian bowlers held their nerve to eventually scamper home and give their side a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
The Madhav Rao Scindia stadium turned out to be a batting paradise with over 825 runs being scored and India would consider themselves a trifle lucky to escape with a win despite the sloppy fielding and the erratic bowling.
Full Scorecard | Player Records | Statistics | Head 2 Head
It was only the second time that more than 800 runs were scored in a one-day match. The match between Australia and South Africa in Johannesburg in 2006 had produced 872 runs which is the highest so far.
The islanders needed 22 runs off 19 balls with five wickets intact in the tense dying moments of the game but Angelo Mathews and Thilina Kandamby got a little jittery and were unable to take their team to victory. The Lankans scored 411 for eight.
Highest innings totals
Highest innings totals batting second
Apart from Sehwag's blistering knock, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (72) and Sachin Tendulkar (69) were the other notable contributors in India's record total.
The Indians were guilty of dropping three catches, two of them sitters, and the ground fielding also left much to be desired. They had dropped as many as ten catches in the two Twenty matches.
The two teams will now travel to Nagpur for the second game to be played under flooodlights on Friday.
The Lankan run chase began with a flourish as the two openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga (67) tore the Indian bowling attack to shreds on a good batting strip.
None of the Indians bowlers could manage to stop the run flow in the early stages as both the batsmen unleashed a barrage of strokes.
Tharanga got a reprieve when he was on ten with Virat Kohli dropping a sitter at the point region much to the dismay of his teammates who have suddenly developed the habit of dropping catches far too often.
Dilshan and Tharanga put on a rollicking 188-run opening partnership to provide the flatform for the mammoth run chase.
Part-timer Suresh Raina provided the breakthrough when Tharanga stepped out but missed the line and Dhoni whipped off the bails behind the stumps.
Captain Kumar Sangakkara joined the action after Tharanga's dismissal and immediately got into the act by going after the bowlers with a fine exhibition of strokeplay.
Sangakkara notched up his 50th half century in quick time as the two experienced player brought the asking rate down and took the islanders closer to the victory target. The Indians were guilty of dropping three catches, two of them sitters, and the ground fielding also left much to be desired. They had dropped as many as ten catches in the two Twenty matches.
The two teams will now travel to Nagpur for the second game to be played under flooodlights on Friday.
The Lankan run chase began with a flourish as the two openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga (67) tore the Indian bowling attack to shreds on a good batting strip.
None of the Indians bowlers could manage to stop the run flow in the early stages as both the batsmen unleashed a barrage of strokes.
Tharanga got a reprieve when he was on ten with Virat Kohli dropping a sitter at the point region much to the dismay of his teammates who have suddenly developed the habit of dropping catches far too often.
Dilshan and Tharanga put on a rollicking 188-run opening partnership to provide the flatform for the mammoth run chase.
Part-timer Suresh Raina provided the breakthrough when Tharanga stepped out but missed the line and Dhoni whipped off the bails behind the stumps.
Captain Kumar Sangakkara joined the action after Tharanga's dismissal and immediately got into the act by going after the bowlers with a fine exhibition of strokeplay.
Sangakkara notched up his 50th half century in quick time as the two experienced player brought the asking rate down and took the islanders closer to the victory target.
The Indians were guilty of dropping three catches, two of them sitters, and the ground fielding also left much to be desired. They had dropped as many as ten catches in the two Twenty matches.
The two teams will now travel to Nagpur for the second game to be played under flooodlights on Friday.
The Lankan run chase began with a flourish as the two openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga (67) tore the Indian bowling attack to shreds on a good batting strip.
None of the Indians bowlers could manage to stop the run flow in the early stages as both the batsmen unleashed a barrage of strokes.
Tharanga got a reprieve when he was on ten with Virat Kohli dropping a sitter at the point region much to the dismay of his teammates who have suddenly developed the habit of dropping catches far too often.
Dilshan and Tharanga put on a rollicking 188-run opening partnership to provide the flatform for the mammoth run chase.
Part-timer Suresh Raina provided the breakthrough when Tharanga stepped out but missed the line and Dhoni whipped off the bails behind the stumps.
Captain Kumar Sangakkara joined the action after Tharanga's dismissal and immediately got into the act by going after the bowlers with a fine exhibition of strokeplay.
Sangakkara notched up his 50th half century in quick time as the two experienced player brought the asking rate down and took the islanders closer to the victory target.
Fernando got his revenge soon after as he disturbed Tendulkar's timber with a ball that kept low and came in too.
Sehwag swung Jayasuriya for a four and then hit Mathews for two successive fours to reach his 12th hundred off only 66 balls. His second hundred against the visitors included 12 fours and five sixes.
Incidentally his 66-ball hundred was two adrift of the record created by Yuvraj Singh against England last year.
India took the batting power play after the 34th over, the score reading 296 for one, and both Sehwag and Dhoni were dismissed during this period.
Sehwag was caught at point off Welegedara to give the bowler some consolation after his harsh treatment by the batsman while Fernando, easily the pick of the visiting team's attack, sent back Dhoni by having him caught at covers.
Later Gambhir was caught behind off Kulasekara in the 39th over as India made a complete hash of the Power Play by losing three important wickets while adding only 33 runs.
Then Raina (16) mistimed a pull shot and skied to short mid wicket off Kulasekara and Harbhajan was caught at third man off Angelo Mathews as the Indian innings went into a decline before Kohli and local boy Jadeja (30 not out) put on 34 runs in six overs to prop it up again.
(With PTI inputs)
![](https://s.ndtvimg.com/images/misc/fullImage/ver1/s/sehwag-sachin09.jpg)
Both the teams made 400-plus runs for the second time. While India had made 413 runs against Bermuda during 2007 World Cup, Sri Lanka had scored 443 runs against the Netherlands.
India surpassed their highest score of 413 with a blazing 102-ball 146 runs from opener Virender Sehwag, who had a 153-run first-wicket stand with Sachin Tendulkar and 156-run partnership with skipper MS Dhoni for the second wicket.
After the Indians rattled up 414 of 7, Dilshan (160) and Sangakkara (90 off 43 balls) launched a ruthless assault but the Indian bowlers held their nerve to eventually scamper home and give their side a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
The Madhav Rao Scindia stadium turned out to be a batting paradise with over 825 runs being scored and India would consider themselves a trifle lucky to escape with a win despite the sloppy fielding and the erratic bowling.
Full Scorecard | Player Records | Statistics | Head 2 Head
It was only the second time that more than 800 runs were scored in a one-day match. The match between Australia and South Africa in Johannesburg in 2006 had produced 872 runs which is the highest so far.
The islanders needed 22 runs off 19 balls with five wickets intact in the tense dying moments of the game but Angelo Mathews and Thilina Kandamby got a little jittery and were unable to take their team to victory. The Lankans scored 411 for eight.
Highest innings totals
Team | Run | Overs | RR | Opposition | Ground |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
Sri Lanka | 443/9 | 50.0 | 8.86 | Netherlands | Amstelveen |
South Africa | 438/9 | 49.5 | 8.78 | Australia | Johannesburg |
Australia | 434/4 | 50.0 | 8.68 | South Africa | Johannesburg |
South Africa | 418/5 | 50.0 | 8.36 | Zimbabwe | Potchefstroom |
India | 414/7 | 50.0 | 8.28 | Sri Lanka | Rajkot |
Highest innings totals batting second
Team | Run | Overs | RR | Result | Opposition | Ground |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
South Africa | 438/9 | 49.5 | 8.78 | won | Australia | Johannesburg |
Sri Lanka | 411/8 | 50.0 | 8.22 | lost | India | Rajkot |
New Zealand | 350/9 | 49.3 | 7.07 | won | Australia | Hamilton |
India | 347 | 49.4 | 6.98 | lost | Australia | Hyderabad (Decc) |
Pakistan | 344/8 | 49.4 | 6.88 | lost | India | Karachi |
Apart from Sehwag's blistering knock, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (72) and Sachin Tendulkar (69) were the other notable contributors in India's record total.
The Indians were guilty of dropping three catches, two of them sitters, and the ground fielding also left much to be desired. They had dropped as many as ten catches in the two Twenty matches.
The two teams will now travel to Nagpur for the second game to be played under flooodlights on Friday.
The Lankan run chase began with a flourish as the two openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga (67) tore the Indian bowling attack to shreds on a good batting strip.
None of the Indians bowlers could manage to stop the run flow in the early stages as both the batsmen unleashed a barrage of strokes.
Tharanga got a reprieve when he was on ten with Virat Kohli dropping a sitter at the point region much to the dismay of his teammates who have suddenly developed the habit of dropping catches far too often.
Dilshan and Tharanga put on a rollicking 188-run opening partnership to provide the flatform for the mammoth run chase.
Part-timer Suresh Raina provided the breakthrough when Tharanga stepped out but missed the line and Dhoni whipped off the bails behind the stumps.
Captain Kumar Sangakkara joined the action after Tharanga's dismissal and immediately got into the act by going after the bowlers with a fine exhibition of strokeplay.
Sangakkara notched up his 50th half century in quick time as the two experienced player brought the asking rate down and took the islanders closer to the victory target. The Indians were guilty of dropping three catches, two of them sitters, and the ground fielding also left much to be desired. They had dropped as many as ten catches in the two Twenty matches.
The two teams will now travel to Nagpur for the second game to be played under flooodlights on Friday.
The Lankan run chase began with a flourish as the two openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga (67) tore the Indian bowling attack to shreds on a good batting strip.
None of the Indians bowlers could manage to stop the run flow in the early stages as both the batsmen unleashed a barrage of strokes.
Tharanga got a reprieve when he was on ten with Virat Kohli dropping a sitter at the point region much to the dismay of his teammates who have suddenly developed the habit of dropping catches far too often.
Dilshan and Tharanga put on a rollicking 188-run opening partnership to provide the flatform for the mammoth run chase.
Part-timer Suresh Raina provided the breakthrough when Tharanga stepped out but missed the line and Dhoni whipped off the bails behind the stumps.
Captain Kumar Sangakkara joined the action after Tharanga's dismissal and immediately got into the act by going after the bowlers with a fine exhibition of strokeplay.
Sangakkara notched up his 50th half century in quick time as the two experienced player brought the asking rate down and took the islanders closer to the victory target.
The Indians were guilty of dropping three catches, two of them sitters, and the ground fielding also left much to be desired. They had dropped as many as ten catches in the two Twenty matches.
The two teams will now travel to Nagpur for the second game to be played under flooodlights on Friday.
The Lankan run chase began with a flourish as the two openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga (67) tore the Indian bowling attack to shreds on a good batting strip.
None of the Indians bowlers could manage to stop the run flow in the early stages as both the batsmen unleashed a barrage of strokes.
Tharanga got a reprieve when he was on ten with Virat Kohli dropping a sitter at the point region much to the dismay of his teammates who have suddenly developed the habit of dropping catches far too often.
Dilshan and Tharanga put on a rollicking 188-run opening partnership to provide the flatform for the mammoth run chase.
Part-timer Suresh Raina provided the breakthrough when Tharanga stepped out but missed the line and Dhoni whipped off the bails behind the stumps.
Captain Kumar Sangakkara joined the action after Tharanga's dismissal and immediately got into the act by going after the bowlers with a fine exhibition of strokeplay.
Sangakkara notched up his 50th half century in quick time as the two experienced player brought the asking rate down and took the islanders closer to the victory target.
Fernando got his revenge soon after as he disturbed Tendulkar's timber with a ball that kept low and came in too.
Sehwag swung Jayasuriya for a four and then hit Mathews for two successive fours to reach his 12th hundred off only 66 balls. His second hundred against the visitors included 12 fours and five sixes.
Incidentally his 66-ball hundred was two adrift of the record created by Yuvraj Singh against England last year.
India took the batting power play after the 34th over, the score reading 296 for one, and both Sehwag and Dhoni were dismissed during this period.
Sehwag was caught at point off Welegedara to give the bowler some consolation after his harsh treatment by the batsman while Fernando, easily the pick of the visiting team's attack, sent back Dhoni by having him caught at covers.
Later Gambhir was caught behind off Kulasekara in the 39th over as India made a complete hash of the Power Play by losing three important wickets while adding only 33 runs.
Then Raina (16) mistimed a pull shot and skied to short mid wicket off Kulasekara and Harbhajan was caught at third man off Angelo Mathews as the Indian innings went into a decline before Kohli and local boy Jadeja (30 not out) put on 34 runs in six overs to prop it up again.
(With PTI inputs)
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