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Wipeout!

This was an important match for Sri Lanka. Their win against Pakistan must have raised their spirits and this could have been the clincher. A win here, one without Sanath Jayasuriya, Muralitharan, Kaluwitharana and Dharmasena, could have given them oodles of confidence. All they needed to do was beat India, already down after a 143-run hammering from Pakistan.

They must have been pretty happy that Ajay Jadeja was leading the side with Azharuddhin out with an injury. They had the opportunity there -- and they muffed it.

Arjuna Ranatunga won the won and chose to field, hoping they could exploit some early movement to have the Indians in trouble. To some extent, he was right too. The ball was moving, yes, but the basic assumption is that you bowl a tight line and length to make use of that.

In the final assay, the Indians capitalised on some wayward bowling and some pretty weak fielding to raise a sluggish run rate of 3.9 at 11 overs, when Ramesh had just gone, to 5.72, with the score at 286 for 6 in 50 overs. And among the top scorers was Jadeja with 103, Ganguly with a steady 65 and debutant Amay Khurasia with an electrifying 51 off 37 balls.

The Lankans, who seemed edgy at the outset of their innings, soon had their backs to the wall and a mounting run rate ahead. Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva looked like they would provide some resistance. But the spine went out of the Lankan response when both were run out off consecutive balls, one of them to one of the finest bits of ground fielding ever from Robin Singh.

Desperate measures by Upul Chandana and, later, Eric Upashantha made no difference. By then it was only a matter of time...

Amay, Ajay take charge

Scoreboard