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This is an archive article published on March 24, 2007

Indian dreams crash on Emerald Isles

India's World Cup bandwagon hit an abrupt dead-end after a thorough thrashing at the hands of Sri Lanka in their last league match.

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India’s World Cup bandwagon hit an abrupt dead-end after a thorough thrashing at the hands of Sri Lanka in their last league match.

Except for a mathematical probability (see table on page 20), which comes into play only if rank outsiders Bermuda upset Bangladesh in their last league match, the 69-run defeat virtually means the end of road for India at the 2007 Caribbean carnival.

Put in to bat, Sri Lanka shrugged off early tentativeness, to post 254 for six in 50 overs as opener Upul Tharanga (64) and Chamara Silva (59) slammed impressive half-centuries.

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India’s famed and over-rated batsmen failed to chase a modest target, as the team folded for 185 in 43.3 overs. Rahul Dravid’s 82-ball 60 was the only resistance faced by Sri Lanka’s accurate bowlers after a brisk 48 from Virender Sehwag.

After Chaminda Vaas pulled off a stunner of his own bowling to dismiss Uthappa, the team boasting of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni collapsed.

Dravid’s resistance ended as he miscued Sanath Jayasuriya to Muralitharan.

Sri Lanka’s recovery from a bad start featured Silva’s third successive World Cup half-century. Tharanga had steadied the innings that began with the cheap dismissal of seasoned batsmen Jayasuriya and Jayawardene.

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Sri Lanka topped Group B with wins in all their three matches, while Bangladesh have one win over India in two matches and need to defeat Bermuda on Sunday to knock India out of the tournament.

Muttiah Muralitharan

The reaction after taking Sourav Ganguly’s catch said it all. He was there to prove a point. “The coach didn’t want me in the inner circle as he thought I couldn’t hold on to catches, so I had to prove a point,” Muttiah Muralitharan said after receiving the Man of the Match award for the three wickets he picked up for 41 runs. Interestingly, he bowled only round the wicket to the right handers. Murali also took another good catch to dismiss Indian skipper Rahul Dravid.

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka: U Tharanga lbw b Tendulkar 64; S Jayasuriya c Agarkar b Khan 6; M Jayawardene c Dhoni b Agarkar 7; K Sangakkara c Patel b Ganguly 15; C Silva c Dhoni b Khan 59; T Dilshan c Dhoni b Patel 38; R Arnold not out 19; C Vaas not out 19.

Extras (11lb, 2nb, 14w) 27; Total (for 6 wkts, 50 overs) 254.

Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-53, 3-92, 4-133, 5-216, 6-216.

Bowling: Z Khan 10-0-49-2, A Agarkar 8-0-33-1, M Patel 10-0-46-1, H Singh 10-0-53-0, S Ganguly 4-0-22-1, S Tendulkar 8-0-40-1.

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India: R Uthappa c and b Vaas 18; S Ganguly c Muralitharan b Vaas 7; V Sehwag c Jayawerdene b Muralitharan 48; S Tendulkar b Fernando 0; R Dravid c Muralitharan b Jayasuriya 60; Y Singh run out 6; M Dhoni lbw b Muralitharan 0; A Agarkar c Arnold b Malinga 10; H Singh not out 17; Z Khan c Malinga b Muralitharan 1; M Patel c Vaas b Dilshan 10.

Extras (1lb, 7w) 8; Total (all out, 43.3 overs) 185.

Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-43, 3-44, 4-98, 5-112, 6-112, 7-136, 8-159, 9-161 Bowling: C Vaas 8-1-39-2, L Malinga 8-0-39-1, D Fernando 6.2-0-32-1, M Muralitharan 10-0-41-3, S Jayasuriya 9-0-31-1, T Dilshan 2.1-1-2-1.

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