Jayawardene takes Lanka to 274

A match as important as a World Cup final is expected to be a high-scoring affair. Sri Lanka's score of 275 after winning the toss could well prove to be challenging on a spin-friendly track at the Wankhede, thanks mainly to a gritty century from Mahela Jayawardene.

In what may well be considered as a bowler dominated innings, Jayawardene combined aggression with genuine stroke-play despite regular wickets to anchor the innings for his side. The 33-year-old batsman came in after the hosts had rattled two Lankan wickets with the score on 60 and played a sensible knock.

His presence at the crease was important as it was Tillakaratne Dilshan (33) who fell to Harbhjan Singh despite being one of the highest scorers of the tournament.

The Indian bowlers infact, had a grip on the rate of scoring with the seamers bowling well in the first powerplay and gave away just 31 runs. Zaheer Khan even managed to send back Upul Tharanga (2) to draw first blood.

If the pacers were relentless, the spinners in Yuvraj and Harbhajan Singh, backed by an alert fielding squadron inside the circle, frustrated the Sri Lankans. Skipper Kumar Sangakkara however did play a responsible knock of 48 but a slight lapse in concentration cost him his wicket.

Jayawardene however took up the mantle of being in the middle and despite the spinners striking at regular intervals, went onto complete his sixth World Cup century.

Some late blitzkrieg from Nuwan Kulasekara who hit a 30-ball 32 and Thisara Perera who took 9 balls for his 22,  helped the Lankans accelerate to a total that will require Indian batsmen to play responsibly. Jayawardene remained unbeaten on 103.

40 overs: There is no stopping the two highest wicket-takers for India in this World Cup as Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh increase their tally by removing Thilan Samaraweera and Chamara Kapugedera respectively.

Though Mahela Jayawardene has been manning one end of the Sri Lankan innings, the fall of wickets has put the visitors in a spot of bother leading into the final ten overs.

Skipper MS Dhoni is showing faith in mixing pace with spin and for obvious reasons as well. The Sri Lankan batsmen have been dismissed despite them not taking any risk or being guilty of rash shots. This would be a worry as the par-score at this stadium is about 260. Kumar Sangakkara's side though have lost five wickets already with the score on 180.

35 overs: Mahela Jayawardene brings up his sixth World Cup and 57th half-century overall as he steadies the Sri Lankan innings after regular loss of wickets.

While India has been using the services of spinners including Sachin Tendulkar, Jayawardene has negotiated the attack from the slower bowlers with a calming effect to keep the score ticking. His half-century took 50 balls with six boundaries but  mostly stitched his innings with singles.

The crowd tough found more to cheer when Tendulkar replaced Harbhjan than when the half-century was completed although it has been sporting thus far.

28 overs: Kumar Sangakkara looked set for a half-century and his solid stroke-play erased any doubt. Then again, Yuvraj Singh has spoilt many celebrations in this tournament and returned to take the outside edge of the Lankan skipper to get the third wicket for India.

Sangakkara had looked solid through his 67-ball 48, trading risky shots for sensible ones for singles and the occasional shot to the boundary. A lapse in concentration though was all that Yuvraj needed as an alert Dhoni completed a sharp but regulation catch behind the stumps.

Interestingly, Dhoni brought in Sreesanth the very next over. This after Sangakkara had taken the Kerela speedster to the cleaners earlier on. Thilan Samaraweera has joined Jayawardene on the crease.

25 overs: The Wankhede pitch curator said before the start of the match that the quicker bowlers will get movement early on and the spinners will play a big role as the ball gets old. The Indian bowling attack has been proved him correct, word by word.

After skipper MS Dhoni used his seamers in Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth and Munaf Patel to contain Sri Lanka in the powerplay's, he has now brought on Yuvraj and Harbhajan Singh to bowl in tandem to keep Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in check.

Though not much success has come their way since the wicket of Tilakaratne Dilshan, it has more to do with the experience of Sangakkara and Jayawardene to consolidate than a lack of ability in creating chances from the two spinners. 

17 overs: A single loose over is all it takes for a batsman to free his arms and get the adrenaline rush streaming back again. A single delivery is all it takes to end all of that.

Sreesanth bowled a single lose over to be taken to the fence thrice by Kumar Sangakkara but Harbhajan returned the favour on his teammates behalf by striking out Tillakaratane Dilshan in only his second over of the day.

The track had already begun turning and the Lankan skipper was doing well to negate the conditions. Dilshan on the other end though, attempted to replicate his partner but played the wrong shot to the wrong man on the wrong delivery to find his stumps in disarray. Mahela Jayawardena has come out to the middle.

10 overs: The Indian bowlers have managed to keep the Lankan lions from roaring away in the first ten overs of power play. The added wicket of Upul Tharanga has been a bonus.

Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth have bowled most of the initial overs with Munaf Patel chipping in. While the Indian seamers have done well with the ball, the fielding has been of a high standard as well. One expects Yuvraj, Raina and the likes to dive in the in-field but Zaheer and Sreesanth seem to have a competition going in the fielding department as well with both diving at the ropes to stop the aggressive shots from crossing the fence.

Though expected to lash out, Tillakaratne Dilshan seems to be finding the going slightly tough as he has been joined at the crease by an equally tentative Kumar Sangakkara.

 

6.1 overs: Zaheer Khan strikes as he finds the outside edge of Upul Tharanga's bat and Virender Sehwag completes a diving catch at first slip.

The openers in Tharanga and Tillkaratane Dilshan looked cautious from the beginning and failed to penetrate the in-field as Zaheer and Sreesanth kept the pressure up. Zaheer though eventually managed to get rewarded for persisting with a patient line just outside the off-stump.

Kumar Sangakkara has come out to the middle.

Teams

India: Virender Shewag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (c), Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and S Sreesanth.

Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (c), Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Lasith Malinga, Rangana Herath, Muttiah Muralitharan, Nuwan Kulasekara, Chamara Kapugedera and Thisara Perera

Scorecentre

Pitch report: The pitch here at the Wankhede stadium has been relaid, has red soil and has been rolled evenly. Once the ball gets older, batsmen can look to seize advantage but will need to set their eyes in. Spinners will have a big role to play according to pitch curator Sudhir Naik and he reckons a target in excess of 260 is possible and will be challenging for the team batting second. Dew too, is likely to play a part towards the evening. It is expected to be a sporting track though.