Gunawardene and Kaluwitharana: A rescue act in the middle order
Sri Lanka took on India were in the day/night encounter on Sunday at the
Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. It was bound to be a thriller, Sri Lanka on a
roll and India trying to regain their winning ways.
Sanath Jayasuriya won the toss and elected to bat first. Sri Lanka
got of to a good start thanks to a blitz by Jayasuriya (34). The
first wicket partnership with Avishka Gunawardene yielded 48 runs
in 11.4 overs. Sri Lanka lost their way losing three quick wickets
in the space of 3.2 overs. Harbhajan Singh took the wickets of Jayasuriya
and Marwan Atapattu (5); Reetinder Singh Sodhi dismissed
Mahela Jayawardene for a duck.
Sri Lanka were 61/3 in 15 overs and the stage seemed set for Harbhajan
Singh to cut through the batting line-up. Gunawardene was joined by
the diminutive wicket-keeper/batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana in the middle.
The burly Gunawardene who had a shaky start, blossomed at
the arrival of his new partner.
Gunawardene turned his attention to Sodhi, hitting him for three boundaries
in the space of six overs; even Harbhajan Singh was not spared. Gunawardene
got to his half century in 83 balls, with a powerful cut to the point fence
off the bowling of Virender Shewag.
The two batsmen were busy pinching the singles and the occasional
twos to keep the scoreboard moving. The fifty partnership between
the two batsmen came in 12.5 overs and just about at the right time
for the Sri Lankans. The two were not done yet and consolidated even
as the Indians were struggling to break the partnership.
The domination was there to be seen as Kaluwitharana struck possibly the
stroke of the day. A short of a length delivery from Sodhi was
cut behind point with such timing that there was no stopping the ball from
racing past the ropes. Kaluwitharana's determination rubbed on Gunawardene
as he started to get more aggressive.
The fifth ball of the 34th over, which was bowled by Shewag proved
to be fatal, Gunawardene played all over the ball and was bowled.
Gunawardene made 63 runs off 107 balls with the help of seven boundaries.
The fourth wicket partnership had produced 83 runs from
18.5 overs.
Viewed against the final result, there is little doubt that the partnership
between Gunawardene and Kaluwitharana was a match
winning effort. Sri Lanka owed a lot to their two warriors in
getting a score of 221/9 in 50 overs, which India could not surpass late in
the evening.
Archive:
