India shut the door on Sri Lanka

India vs. England
Game six
Birmingham - Scorecard

India's fantastic run in the NatWest series continued on Saturday when they beat Sri Lanka by four wickets at Edgbaston. With this defeat -- the fourth in a row -- the Lankans are effectively out of the tournament.

India's all-win record in the series was in danger of being broken as the Sri Lankans tried to breath new life into their campaign. In the end, quality prevailed as India romped home thanks to a match winning half-century from vice-captain Rahul Dravid, who picked up a bottle of champagne and a £1500 cheque for being selected the man-of-the-match. For India, this truly seems like a summer to remember.

Sri Lankan innings:

The cricket carnival travelled to Birmingham, the curry capital of England with its cluster of Indian restaurants. Thanks to a scintillating performance from the bowlers, the Sri Lankan innings folded up for a measly 187.

Skipper Sourav Ganguly won his second successive toss and inserted the Lankans to bat under an overcast sky. Overnight rain ensured lateral movement for his seamers.

Ganguly might also have been influenced by the history of the ground, where captains, on winning the toss, have opted to field seventy per cent of the time.

NatWest Series table

Team P W L NR Pt NRR India 4 3 0 1 14 +0.26 England 4 2 1 1 10 +0.31 Sri Lanka 4 0 4 0 0 -0.47

How the points system works

India had named an unchanged side but Sri Lanka seemed to be suffering from selection problems. While India's problems were more due to an embarrassment of riches, what with V V S Laxman sitting out, Sri Lanka was struggling to find the right balance. Thilan Samaraweera replaced Kumara Sangakkara while left-arm seamer Nuwan Zoysa was rested in favour of veteran seamer Pramodya Wickramasinghe.

Skipper Sanath Jayasuriya, having found form with the fastest limited-overs century in England in the previous game, made his intentions clear with a fierce six over point off Zaheer Khan in the second over.

Ashish Nehra and Zaheer learnt their lessons promptly, exploiting the conditions and bowling the correct channel outside the off-stump to stifle the Lankan openers.

In the fifth over, Nehra, moving the ball a tad away, induced an edge from Jayasuriya that was muffed up by Dinesh Mongia at second slip.

The seamers cramped Jayasuriya for room and the pressure eventually produced the breakthrough. The Lankan skipper misread Nehra, who was in the middle of a dream spell, and tried to cut a delivery too close to the off-stump, dragging the ball onto the stumps for 22.

SL innings progress
Overs	Runs scored	Total	Wkts
10	40	40	1
20	40	80	1
30	43	123	0
40	24	147	3
48.2	40	187	5

Ajit Agarkar provided an encore, dismissing Romesh Kaluwitharana in the same way that he had at the Oval on last Sunday. With the first ball of his opening over, Agarkar pitched one a tad wide of the off-stump, forcing Kalu to swipe at it. Dravid did not make any mistake in holding on to the ball. (41-2)

Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene -- the mainstay of the Sri Lankan batting -- plugged away at the Indian bowlers.

Atapattu, on the lookout for loose deliveries, kept finding the fence; a swivelling hook of Agarkar and a crisp drive to the long off fence off Ganguly were the highlights of his half-century minutes after Jayawardene (36) danced down the wicket and skied Kumble to Ashish Nehra at long off. (125-3)

Kumble, sporting a French beard, struck again in his next over with a delivery that pierced the cavity between Atapattu's bat-pad to crash into the wickets.

The double blow from Kumble in the space of four runs dispelled all hopes of the Lankan total touching the 225-run mark.

All members of the Indian think-tank seemed to have finally arrived at the same wavelength. The field settings and fielding were immaculate.

Sri Lanka lost their last six wickets for 41 runs as Avishka Gunawardene, Russel Arnold and Upul Chandana failed to negotiate a highly disciplined performance from the Indian bowlers.

Gunawardene miscued a delivery from Zaheer that hurried onto him and Yuvraj Singh at point took a skier. Nehra then picked up Samaraweera in his second spell with an edge that flew to Virendra Sehwag at first slip. (150-6)

A mix-up between Arnold and Chandana saw Lanka's seventh wicket tumble for 153 when Arnold failed to beat Yuvraj's throw and was run out for 13.

A brief flourish from Chaminda Vaas, who chipped in with a 20-ball 26, saw Sri Lanka cross the 175-run mark. His knock was cut short when he holed out to Ganguly at mid-wicket off Zaheer. (182-8)

Three runs later, Agarkar got his second wicket when Chandana smashed him straight to Nehra at mid-off. Wickramasinghe was run-out by another brilliant throw from Yuvraj and the Lankan innings folded for 187.

Indian innings:

As the ball swung back into the stumps and Sehwag crawled back to the pavilion with a duck against his name, the roar of the clamouring Indian crowds was reduced to a faint beep.

That it was the first ball of the Indian innings from Vaas was not important anymore, as India seemed to have thrown themselves another challenge in the series.

The pitch appeared to be Sri Lankan, as it spat and swung much to the inconvenience of the batsmen. In the second over of the innings Ganguly cut Dilhara Fernando straight to point fielder Chandana, who grassed a sharp chance.

Mongia scratched around for his five runs and was dismissed when a leading edge flew to Jayasuriya in the covers.

At the other end, Ganguly was at sea, flashing at the ball and missing regularly. A delivery from Wickramasinghe that angled across ended his misery. Ganguly (34) swiped at it and offered a thick edge to Jayawardene at first slip who muffed the chance, forcing wicketkeeper Kaluwitharana to grasp it with his gloves. India lost its top three batsmen for 33 in the 14th over.

Tendulkar cut Chandana in the 19th over and Dilhara failed to latch onto a sharp catch at point. After that faux pas Tendulkar should have re-calibrated his game. Instead of resolving to stick around, he decided to get stuck into the Lankan bowlers and paid the price.

Pushing too early at a slower ball from Dilhara, Tendulkar flung the simplest of catches to Atapattu in the covers. Chasing a small total, the Indian batsmen seemed in a rush as Sri Lanka kept themselves in the hunt for a place in the finals.

Ind innings progress
Overs	Runs scored	Total	Wkts
10	26	26	1
20	34	60	3
30	51	111	0
40	39	150	1
48.1	38	188	1

But it all went awry for the Lankans as Dravid and Yuvraj guided India with yet another invaluable partnership. Picking the gaps with utmost ease and taking the measured luxury of playing a big hit, the duo celebrated their fifty-run partnership with a flowing six from the bat of Yuvraj.

In the 36th over of the game Vaas, bowling his final over, bent an inswinger that beat Yuvraj but missed the off stump by a whisker. Off the next delivery Yuvraj inside-edged a ball that missed the stumps yet again. The left-arm seamer finished with figures of 2-26 from his 10 overs.

Having spent sufficient time at the wicket, Dravid used his feet and sent Samaraweera for a straight six.

In the next over Yuvraj (37) played a full toss from Dilhara straight to Chandana at point as India lost its fifth wicket for 150. The 91-run partnership had paved the way for yet another Indian victory.

Mohammad Kaif wove a 27-run partnership with Dravid before a direct throw from Fernando saw the vice-captain run-out after a match-winning knock of 64.

Agarkar smashed Chandana over mid-on for a four. The next one was bowled wide as India coasted home with eleven balls to spare.