India start Lanka campaign with a win

Sanath Jayasuriya's hundred went in vain as India won the opening match of the five-ODI series by 6 wickets in Dambulla on Wednesday.

Riding on Jayasuriya's sparkling 107, Sri Lanka set a target of 247 runs that India achieved with 11 balls to spare. That, however, did not deprive the Lankan opener of the 'Man of the Match' award. Jayasuriya raised 28th hundred, his 7th against India with the help of ten fours and a six.

Chasing that total, India stumbled early as they lost Sachin Tendulkar for just 5 runs. Sachin on Wednesday opened the innings with Gautam Gambhir, as the regular opener Virender Sehwag was ruled out because of an injury. Sri Lanka bowler Thilan Thushara trapped him in front of his wicket for 5 runs. It was an unfortunate decision as the ball pitched outside the leg stump and straightened to hit Sachin high on his pads. Not the best of the decisions, it was umpire Kumar Dharmasena's first in international cricket.

Suresh Raina joined Gambhir after Tendulkar's dismissal. The duo added 113 runs before Gambhir perished. Carrying his good form into the new year, Gambhir (62) struck 14th ODI half-century, his third against the hosts. In his attempt to loft Murali over the mid-off region, Gambhir erred and was taken by Thilina Kandamby at long-off as spin wizard's 501st victim.

Raina, too, fell soon after he raised his fifty. Raina (54) slammed ninth ODI half-century, his fourth against the Lankans. He gave away his wicket while trying to steal a second run off Mendis. An alert Murali did him in.

Yuvraj Singh fell as the fourth Indian wicket after Sri Lanka pacer Farveez Maharoof dismissed him for 23 runs. The Punjab left-hander added 44 runs with skipper MS Dhoni before he failed to get the desired elevation and was caught by Muralitharan who came charging from the long-on.

This middle-order collapse did not deter Dhoni who led from the front and slammed an unbeaten 61 runs. It was his 26th half-century and eighth against Jayawardene's team. He was well supported by Rohit Sharma (25*) for the fifth wicket and guided India to victory.

Earlier, electing to field first, India got the first breakthrough in the form of Tillakratne Dilshan's wicket as the Lanka opener was caught short of his crease. It was an utter mess in the middle. Dilshan played a Zaheer's delivery towards square leg and rushed for a single but Jayasuriya was not very keen and sent him back from halfway. Meanwhile, Yusuf Pathan collected the ball and knocked the stumps to see Dilshan tread back without scoring.

Losing Dilshan early on, Jayasuriya accompanied by Sangakkara added 118 runs for the second wicket. In the process he also completed 13000 ODI runs. India spinner Pragyan Ojha broke the dangerous partnership between Sangakkara and Jayasuriya as he dismissed the former for 44 runs. The wicketkeeper-batsman, playing across the line, lofted an Ojha-delivery at mid-on where Raina took a simple catch.

Jayasuriya was dismissed by India's pace spearhead Zaheer Khan as he holed out a full toss delivery to Munaf Patel at mid-off.

Oldest player to score a hundred

Player	Age	Runs	Team	Against	Ground
ST Jayasuriya	39y 212d	107	Sri Lanka	India	Dambulla
G Boycott	39y 51d	105	England	Australia	Sydney
SM Gavaskar	38y 113d	103*	India	New Zealand	Nagpur
DL Haynes	38y 18d	115	West Indies	England	Port of Spain
CG Greenidge	37y 321d	117	West Indies	India	St John's

India's lanky pacer Ishant Sharma finished with three wickets. His victims were Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene, Farveez Maharoof and Thilina Kandamby.

Kandamby, who was sent ahead of Jayawardene, contributed just 17 runs in the 51-run partnership with the demolishing opener. He tried to launch Ishant over mid-off but could not back it with power. As a result he was caught by Zaheer.

Jayawardene, who's been struggling with his form of late, played him across the line and gifted Rohit Sharma a simple catch at mid-on. Maharoof added a quick 35 runs before a slow delivery from the Delhi bowler took an inside edge of his bat and crashed into his stumps.

The last Sri Lankan wicket to fall was of Chamara Kapugedera's. Raina knocked down Kapugedera's stumps from the extra cover as the Lanka batsman struggled to make it to his crease on time.

India: MS Dhoni (Captain), Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (Captain), Tillakratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Kapugedera, Sanath Jayasuriya, Farveez Maharoof, Thilana Kandamby, Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis.