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| 2010 Sri Lanka v India |
| 800-hit Murali bows out in ten-wicket win |
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| Date: 22 July, 2010(Thursday) |
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Cricdb staff writer
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Print Version  |
A packed Galle crowd had to wait as VVS Laxman and India's tail showed commendable stubborness, but eventually Sri Lanka's champion off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan got what they had been waiting for. Lasith Malinga already having hit India with 5 for 50, Murali took the innings' last wicket to finish with exactly 800 dismissals in his last Test before Tillekeratne Dilshan walloped Sri Lanka to a resounding ten-wicket victory.
It was the lethal Malinga whose fast, furious bowling really yanked the mat from under India's feet, but as the tail batted on and on a full house, including spectators as diverse as Haroon Lorgat, Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, retired Sri Lankan players and the Murali family, were left gnawing their nails.
Malinga's fantastic late-swinging yorker to castle MS Dhoni and Murali's dismissal of Harbhajan Singh preceded a stubborn, defiant effort by Laxman (69) and the Indian tail. Indeed they did superbly well not only to hold off a swarming Sri Lanka so long, but to make them bat again and that too chasing 95 runs, which seemed unlikely when they had slid to 197 for 7 and sight of an innings loss. The eventual ten-wicket hammering wasn't far better, but India's tailenders Ishant Sharma (31 not out) and Abhimanyu Mithun (25) showed encouraging steel.
Mithun wasn't afraid to hit when tempted, clubbing five fours in his 49-run stand with Laxman before he was trapped by Malinga. Even when Laxman, who had survived a narrow lbw screech from Murali just before reaching his fifty, was run out after a 60-run stand with Sharma, the lanky Indian hung on grimly with Pragyan Ojha before--and not too early for an anxious throng of spectators and well-wishers--Murali had Ojha, fittingly, caught at slip by his old hunting partner Mahela Jayawardene, who finished with five excellent catches this match, India making 338.
With 95 needed, Dilshan laid about with typical angst. Tharanga Paranavitana fairly relaxed at the other end, the little right-hander hit a pyrotechnic 68 off just 47 balls. Dilshan darted furiously between the wickets amid regular boundaries, with both Mithun and Sharma taking some stick, and finished off the match fittingly by walloping a massive six over cow corner off Harbhajan Singh. India held on well today, but it couldn't overshadow a splendid effort by Sri Lanka.
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| Pos |
Team |
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| 1 |
India |
| 2 |
South Africa |
| 3 |
Australia |
| 4 |
Sri Lanka |
| 5 |
England |
| 6 |
Pakistan |
| 7 |
New Zealand |
| 8 |
West Indies |
| 9 |
Bangladesh |
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| Pos |
Team |
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| 1 |
Australia |
| 2 |
India |
| 3 |
South Africa |
| 4 |
New Zealand |
| 5 |
England |
| 6 |
Pakistan |
| 7 |
Sri Lanka |
| 8 |
West Indies |
| 9 |
Bangladesh |
| 10 |
Zimbabwe |
| 11 |
Ireland |
| 12 |
Kenya |
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