and Nehra holds his nerves. Bowls another low fulltoss outside off, he can't get under it, and gets just a single to long-off
India vs Sri Lanka, 1st ODI at Rajkot, Dec 15 2009 - Ball by Ball Commentary
RESULT
1st ODI, Rajkot, December 15, 2009, Sri Lanka tour of India
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SL
Full commentary
end of over 507 runs • 1 wicket
SL: 411/8CRR: 8.22
Nuwan Kulasekara2 (2b)
Chanaka Welegedara1 (1b)
Ashish Nehra 10-0-81-1
Zaheer Khan 10-0-88-0
And the gem to finish this match with. Ravi Shastri to Virender Sehwag: "You are usually a chilled out character. But with the last over going on, and you sitting above [since he was injured and off the field], were you a bit tense?"
Sehwag: "Not at all. I was actually supporting Sri Lanka. My superstition is that whenever I support India, they lose. So I was supporting Sri Lanka." Sparing a thought for Dilshan and Sangakkara, I say Hail Sehwag and okay bye.
Presentation
Virender Sehwag gets the Man of the Match award. I would have had Dilshan and Sehwag share it, or even Harbhajan Singh take it alone. But it's the batsmen and the winners that often tell the history. Says Sehwag: "I am in good form. I scored 200 in Tests, 50 in T20, I was telling myself I am in good form I have to utilise it. We [me and Sachin] were aiming for 350 to begin with, but MS played really well and raised the bar. In Test matches I score big hundreds, but in ODIs I get out in 30s and 40s, so this is good time to convert them into big hundreds."
MS Dhoni: "It's quite tough to be cool when you score 400 and almost lose it. First 35 overs we were not really up to the mark, maybe we just accepted that the wicket had got better, maybe we were not focusses. But the way we bowled and fielded after that was awesome. Also we could have scored 450, which would have been an 'above-par' score. Catches, of course, if you don't take offerings from set batsmen you are going to be in trouble."
Kumar Sangakkara: "It is actually worse when you come this close and lose and rather than lose easily. Most of the time you can roll over and die chasing over 400, but we almost made. After 35 overs, we should have batted smartly, India held their nerve better than us. At the end of the day, you have to acknowledge that India played better than us - slightly."
India are thrilled, Sri Lanka are gutted. Forget that there was no contest between the bat and the ball but for the last 10 overs, these two teams fought hard. One hundred and four boundaries hit, 825 runs scored, and only three runs separate them. Spare a thought for Dilshan, Sanga and Tharanga, who - under the pressure of a huge chase - played such magnificent knocks. Celebrate the innings from Sehwag, Tendulkar and Dhoni, the spin bowling from Harbhajan, and the death bowling from Zaheer and Nehra. But also remember that this was a substandard international pitch and a small ground.
49.6
1
Nehra to Kulasekara, 1 run
Kula on strike. Five to win. Four to tie. Nehra's wife watching in the crowd.
49.5
1
Nehra to Welegedara, 1 run
thick edge to a yorker outside off, and the third man is straight, smart thinking from Dhoni
49.4
W
Nehra to Angelo Mathews, OUT
and Tendulkar has held onto the most important catch of the match. The first hittable delivery of the over, a low fulltoss, Mathews gets under it, but doesn't get enough elevation and Tendulkar holds on to a simple catch at midwicket. Crowd goes wild, SL dressing room is stunned
Angelo Mathews c Tendulkar b Nehra 38 (33b 2x4 0x6 50m) SR: 115.15
49.3
2
Nehra to Angelo Mathews, 2 runs
another yorker, another good piece of running, Kula just scampers back to the danger end, and it has gone straight to long-on, who goes for the keeper's end, but Mathews is running between the the throw and the keeper
49.2
2
Nehra to Angelo Mathews, 2 runs
another yorker, driven wide of long-off, Kohli does well to get there quick, but then gets a bad bounce, which results in a fumble, which results in two
49.1
1
Nehra to Kulasekara, 1 run
Kulasekara does his job, gets a single off a length ball to cover and brings Mathews on strike
So it has come down to this, the last over. Eleven required after 818 runs have been scored already. No T20 will give you this build-up and this excitement. What a spell of play this has been. Nehra and Zak have been special with their yorkers, and not until long ago Mathews and Kandamby were up to the challenge. Kula to face now. Nehra to bowl
end of over 494 runs • 2 wickets
SL: 404/7CRR: 8.24 • RRR: 11.00
Angelo Mathews34 (30b 2x4)
Zaheer Khan 10-0-88-0
Ashish Nehra 9-0-74-0
48.6
W
Khan to Thilan Samaraweera, OUT
and he finishes with another yorker and another run-out and what's more, the new batsman will be on strike. Samaraweere manages to dig out the yorker, but it's hit straight to Raina at extra cover, Zaheer is back to collect the throw, which is on the top of the stumps, and another wicket goes down
Thilan Samaraweera run out (Raina/Kumar) 0 (1b 0x4 0x6 4m) SR: 0
Samaraweera to face for the first time
48.5
1
Khan to Angelo Mathews, 1 run
yorker again, he will gets just a single to extra cover
48.4
2
Khan to Angelo Mathews, 2 runs
good shot, driven square of the wicket, beats point, goes square of third man, gets two
48.3
•
Khan to Angelo Mathews, no run
yorker across Mathews, he misses, and the crowd goes berserk. It may as well have been a wicket
48.2
W
Khan to Kandamby, OUT
have they got a run-out here? superb collection on a half-volley from Zaheer and Kandamby is gone. It is a short ball, pulled to Tendulkar at midwicket, he is already on the back foot and comes through for one. The lands in front of the stumps but on a half-volley, Zaheer collects cleanly and disturbs the stumps, with Kandamby running casually - not diving, not sliding the bat. Did somebody say Ranatunga?
Thilina Kandamby run out (Tendulkar/Khan) 24 (25b 2x4 0x6 47m) SR: 96
48.1
1
Khan to Angelo Mathews, 1 run
one of the few length balls from these left-armers in these final few overs, Mathews gets under it, and drives to sweeper-cover
end of over 487 runs
SL: 400/5CRR: 8.33 • RRR: 7.50
Angelo Mathews30 (26b 2x4)
Thilina Kandamby24 (24b 2x4)
Ashish Nehra 9-0-74-0
Zaheer Khan 9-0-84-0
47.6
1
Nehra to Angelo Mathews, 1 run
yorker again, outside off, played to extra cover for one
47.5
1
Nehra to Kandamby, 1 run
drama here, Nehra bowls a good yorker, Kandamby wants a single but it's gone straight to Nehra. He has Kandamby dead outside the crease, goes for an underarm throw that hits Kandamby and they run an overthrow. No wonder Kandamby reminds me of Ranatunga, and I don't mean in a negative way at all
47.4
1lb
Nehra to Angelo Mathews, 1 leg bye
this is close, big big decision at this time of the day, Mathews is going for the flick over fine leg, misses, is hit in front of the stumps, umpire reckons it would have missed off, and Hawkeye says it would have kissed the outside of it
47.3
2
Nehra to Angelo Mathews, 2 runs
goes for a big heave over mid-off, gets a thick edge, over point and gets two to square of third man
47.2
1
Nehra to Kandamby, 1 run
the yorker goes slightly wrong, low fulltoss on the pads, and he gets a single to deep midwicket, brings up the 50 of the partnership
47.1
1
Nehra to Angelo Mathews, 1 run
another low fulltoss outside off, can't get under it, just a single to long-off
end of over 475 runs
SL: 393/5CRR: 8.36 • RRR: 7.33
Thilina Kandamby22 (22b 2x4)
Angelo Mathews26 (22b 2x4)
Zaheer Khan 9-0-84-0
Ashish Nehra 8-0-68-0
46.6
•
Khan to Kandamby, no run
another late-swinging yorker, Kandamby can't do anything with this one, ends up playing it back to the bowler
46.5
1
Khan to Angelo Mathews, 1 run
driven powerfully, straight to extra cover, single results, 22 off 19 now
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