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| Mahela Jayawardene is sent on his way by Praveen Kuma |
In their attempt to recover from a humiliating defeat inflicted on them by New Zealand in the tournament opener, India's seamers cashed in on a windy, overcast Dambulla afternoon to rattle Sri Lanka. MS Dhoni's luckless run with the toss continued but Kumar Sangakkara's decision to bat gave India first use of conditions aiding swing and movement, and the hosts found the going tough before rain intervened.
The challenge was thrown at Sri Lanka as early as the first ball of the match with Praveen Kumar stunning the hosts' star from their opening game, Upul Tharanga, with an outswinger. Praveen got the ball to swing towards middle and off and deviate further off the pitch to beat Tharanga's lunge and nip out off stump. India attacked with three slips and the one batsman who appeared to stave off the threat with adjustments to his own approach was Tillakaratne Dilshan.
Dilshan was far from comfortable at the crease, however, struggling to pierce the packed off-side field and mistiming several of his expansive shots through that region. But he countered the swing better than the rest, whipping Praveen's inswingers through square leg and then latching on anything short, scoring three boundaries off the pull. The shot of the day, however, was a delicious drive on the up past extra cover.
But things were edgy at the other end with the weather holding firm and Praveen continuing to compensate for his lack of pace with troubling movement. Mahela Jayawardene showed glimpses of his solidity during his brief stay but was done in by a Praveen delivery that moved back in late to be trapped in front. On the other hand, it was some extra pace that accounted for Sangakkara, who top-edged a pull to be caught in the deep. The assurance that featured prominently in his knocks during the Test series was conspicuous in its absence during Samaraweera's stay; the seamers had him hopping around until he almost contrived to spoon a back-of-a-length delivery to short midwicket.
Dilshan appeared to look settled in his patient progress and was at greater ease once the left-arm spin of Ojha was introduced, making room to cut him off the stumps and maintain a steady flow of runs with Angelo Mathews. But he succumbed to temptation when the ball was tossed up, and top-edged a slog-sweep to scupper a recovery he had initiated before the heavens opened up.
