India outplay Lanka for third straight win

Ravneet Ricky and Manish Sharma got off to an aggressive start against Sri Lanka in what was their first difficult match of the tournament. Both teams were keen to score a win in the match as this would make their future path in the tournament easier. In the end, India were keener than Sri Lanka and ended up being deserved winners - their third successive victory in the Super League.

India began positively with Ricky (32) rattling up the bowlers with some aggressive batting. After Ricky departed, the captain Mohammad Kaif played some good strokes before he was dismissed by spinner Dhammika for 12. Yuvraj Singh, the pick of the Indian batsmen in the tournament so far played in characteristic fashion as he made 36 before he was run out. From this point on, the vice captain Reetinder Singh Sodhi, who has had a low key tournament thus far made a timely 74 and helped India along to a challenging total. Some sensible batting towards the end by Niraj Patel, who made 43 without scoring a single boundary and YV Rao (15) saw India to 242 off 50 overs.

The Sri Lankan openers began positively, hitting the ball hard and finding the boundary with regularity. The Indian bowlers did not lose their composure and were well backed up by some very tight fielding. The Lankans lost wickets at regular intervals and the fact that the highest partnership of the innings was 57 for the seventh wicket tells its own tale. Only stumper RT Peiris (66) showed the temperament required to play at the highest level. Unfortunately for him, his gutsy innings was in vain as the hosts slumped to 201 all out.