Zaheer delivers knockout blow
06-Dec-2009
Zaheer Khan ensured India made short work of Sri Lanka on the final day • Associated Press
Sri Lanka may have thwarted India through the fourth day, but Zaheer Khan sliced through the remaining four wickets to take India to a 2-0 series win and the No. 1 spot in the ICC rankings. Zaheer started with a ripper in the first over to get rid of Kumar Sangakkara and finished his best performance of the series with his eighth five-wicket haul.
In comparison with day four, the end came swift. Sangakkara was yet to get his eye in again when Zaheer bowled the perfect left-armer's outswinger that took the edge. Sri Lanka were 278 for 7 at that stage with all their specialist batsmen dismissed. So after that it was all a matter of time: both Rangana Herath and Nuwan Kulasekara succumbed to sharp short deliveries from Zaheer.
Herath went for a weak pull but could only get it off the top half of the bat, the ball lobbed to midwicket where Pragyan Ojha dived forward to take a good catch. Kulasekara can only fend at a rising delivery, stabbing it straight to second slip. In four overs, Zaheer had three wickets and Sri Lanka had slid to 307 for 9. It was Zaheer's eighth five-wicket haul, and a return to form for India's pace spearhead after a shoulder injury had kept him out for several months.