Lanka veterans win

February 2: A quickfire 53 by Ashley De Silva and a fine spell of bowling by Madurasinghe (3-29) helped Sri Lanka beat India by three wic...

February 2: A quickfire 53 by Ashley De Silva and a fine spell of bowling by Madurasinghe (3-29) helped Sri Lanka beat India by three wickets in the opening match of the tri-nation World Masters veterans cricket series here today.

Sri Lanka put India into bat after winning the toss and restricted them to 196 for eight in the stipulated 35 overs. They then rattled up 197 for seven with 2.2 overs to spare to begin their campaign on a winning note.

Opener Salil Ankola (41) and Roger Binny (27) added 71 runs for the first wicket. But the later order batsmen including skipper Sandeep Patil (22), Ashok Malhotra (27), Sanjeev Sharma (4) and Kiran More (2) failed to capitalise on the start.

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Chetan Sharma scored a quick 29 in 24 balls before being bowled by JC Gamage.

The Indian bowlers also performed badly and their wayward bowling saw them gift away 38 runs by way of extras which included 24 wides.

De Silva and Brendon Kuruppu (25) gave Sri Lanka a good start with a 50-run partnership. Skipper DuleepMendis contributed 20, while Salil Ankola (2-22) and Suru Nayak (2-21) were the main wicket takers for India.

India play their next match against West Indies at Jalandhar on February 9.

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The match between Sri Lanka and West Indies and the finalwould be played in Delhi on February 11 and 13 respectively.

Scores: India 196 for eight in 35 overs (s ankola 41, C Sharma 29, a malhotra 27, R binny 27. Madurasinghe 3/29, D Anurasiri 2/37)

Sri Lanka 197 for seven in 32.4overs. (a D’Silva 53 B. Kuruppu 25, duleep mendis 20. S.Nayak 2/21, S.Ankola 2/22.).