Skipper MS Dhoni once again kept the best for the last and hit an unbeaten 45 off 52 balls to give India a thrilling one-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the Celkon Mobile Cup final at Queen's Park Oval on Thursday. Batting with the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma, he did well to soak the pressure and didn’t let go the hard work of Rohit Sharma, who scored a hard-fought 58 runs, in vain. Chinamen bowlers did some fabulous bowling from both the sides as Rangana Herath destroyed the Indian middle-order whereas Ravindra Jadeja wrapped up the Lankan innings earlier. Both of them ended up picking four wickets each.

Here we bring to you the hits and flops from the final match played between India and Sri Lanka:

HITS

MS Dhoni: Dhoni has been the epitome of Indian batting off late and he did that once again when he was running out of partners. He handled the innings really well in the last five overs and made the proper use of 50 overs rather than smacking the ball. He smashed 15 runs in final over of the match which wasn’t much of a surprise as he has done that number of times in the recent past and that’s why he has earned the tag of best finisher of the modern day cricket.

Rangana Herarth: Herath was sensational with the ball as he kept shifting the balance of the game with his left-arm wizardry. He picked up the wickets of Dinesh Karthik and Rohit Sharma which pushed India on the back-foot and he made the most of it by getting Jadeja and Ashwin out in his ninth over. He ended up with the impressive figures of 4/20 after his quota of 10 overs.

Ravindra Jadeja: Jadeja was introduced a bit late into bowling but he played the crucial role in winding up the Lankan innings as he picked up four wickets in the 7.5 overs that he bowled. With his four-wicket haul, he led the chart as a bowler.

Kumar Sangakkara: Pitch was not easy to bat on, but it was the solidity of this man which saved his team from the blushes. Sangakkara galvanized the Lankan innings with his brilliant half-century. He departed at very wrong time as he was looking to shift the gears. He scored 71 runs off 126 balls that he faced but that the value of those runs was worth of gold.

Rohit Sharma: Sharma played another brilliant knock but couldn’t carry on as Herath surprised him with low bounce. Herath did the honours of sending him back to the dressing room when he was looking to accelerate the innings after scoring 58 runs. He was awarded with the trusted player of the series which he surely deserved as batting wasn’t easy on these wickets.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar: Bhuvaneshwar was remarkable on the Windies tour and final was just a glimpse of it. He provided couple of early breakthroughs which brought back India into this match. He bowled four maiden overs off the eight overs that he bowled and ended up with figures of 2/24.

FLOPS

Upul Tharanga: Tharanga couldn’t continue his explosive form against India and was undone by Bhuvaneshwar. He departed after scoring just 11 runs and was followed by Mahela Jayawardene who scored 22 runs. Departure of both these batsmen brought too much pressure on Sangakkara.

Virat Kohli: Kohli was shown the doors by Eranga, who bowled outside off-stump to get the edge of his bat. Kohli failed to impress even as a bowler as he gave 17 runs in the three overs that he bowled.

Angelo Mathews: Mathews couldn’t do much with the bat and was dismissed by Ishant Sharma, who used the short-ball to get rid of him. He did consistently well in this series but couldn’t deliver when it mattered the most. As a captain, he was bit late in introducing Malinga into the attack which allowed Rohit and Dinesh to get their feet moving. The biggest mistake he possibly did was not allow Malinga to bowl the final over which could have altered the result of this thrilling encounter. He ended up with the good figures of 1/38 after his 10 overs.

Lasith Malinga: Malinga had another disastrous outing against India as he was smacked for 58 runs in the 10 overs that he bowled. He did get the wicket of Bhuvneshwar Kumar but that didn’t change the fortunes for Lankans. His ineffectiveness against Indian batting has been an old story on which he needs to work out.

By Amit Chopra
Indian Sports News Network