India get the test they want

Sri Lanka 207 (48.3 overs, A.Mathews 52); India 209-6 (47.4 overs, R.Sharma 78, M.Tehlan 64). India won by four wickets.

India's Mayank Tehlan during his innings of 64 © ICC

India coach Venkatesh Prasad said the test his players got against Sri Lanka in their last group match was exactly what they needed ahead of the Super League quarter-final.

India won by four wickets to confirm themselves top of Group C and book a meeting with the West Indies but they did not do so without a few alarms.

Sri Lanka reached 117-2 at one point after opting to bat first and looked set for a large score before they were pegged back and had to be content with 207.

Then, when India batted, the hosts reduced them to 28-3 only for Rohit Sharma (78) and super sub Mayank Tehlan (64) to add a match-winning 132 for the fourth wicket.

"That was absolutely what we needed," said Prasad after the match.

"Our first two matches have been very one-sided but this was a fantastic test for the players, for their character and for the standards they have set.

"We lost three early wickets and chasing a score over 200 the pressure was on but Rohit and Mayank were fantastic and never panicked.

"I was pretty happy with the way we bowled as well to restrict Sri Lanka to their final score on a flat pitch and our fielding was fantastic with two run-outs and good catches.

"We did our job today," he added.

Sri Lanka, despite their relatively modest score, only had themselves to blame for not winning the match.

They managed to drop four catches by kindest count, including Sharma three times and the Indian batsmen were in no mood to let generosity like that go to waste.

Sharma played superbly through the off-side and stroked six fours and two sixes in a 105-ball innings while Tehlan, India's super sub, hit three fours in a patient 110-ball innings.

There was some concern when he was dismissed as he collapsed with after hitting a sweep shot to be caught at deep midwicket and he had to be helped from the ground.

Prasad said he thought the problem was cramp and the hope was the player would be fit for the Super League quarter-final against the West Indies on Saturday.

Sri Lanka lost their way when they batted, sliding from 117-2 to 134-6 and it took a captain's innings of 52 from 68 balls from Angelo Mathews to get them up over the 200 mark.

He hit four fours and two sixes, including one shot over the ropes over extra-cover to bring up his half-century the ball before he was dismissed, the third and final victim of Vijaykumar Yomahesh.

The seamer finished with as India's most successful bowler with 3-33, while there were two wickets for up-and-coming leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (2-35) and a wicket each for seamer Saurabh Bandekar (1-51), Ravindra Jadeja (1-37) and Sharma (1-3).

Sri Lanka's coach Sumithra Waranakulasuriya was left to lament what might have been.

"Up to this point we have fielded well, it was better than it had been but now that was back to where we were," he said.

"They say catches win matches and we dropped them today.

"When we got wickets we were up but when the catches went down we seemed to give up the game and we had to send messages out to tell the players to keep going.

"But as long as we are in the quarter-finals we are still alive and it is a matter of regrouping," he added.

Sri Lanka now face Australia at the Sinhalese Sports Club while for India it is a clash with the West Indies and Prasad said from now on it was all down to how sides deal with pressure.

""Pressure is always there but it is whoever handles it that will come through.

"Our boys have got to apply themselves with partnerships when we bat and discipline when we bowl but we are only taking things one step at a time.

"Our next hurdle is tomorrow then we will look at the semi-final if we get there," he said.