A blistering knock by the duo Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag drove India to its eighth successive one-day match win by defeating host Sri Lanka by 147-runs in the third ODI of the five-match cricket series at Colombo on Tuesday night.
Despite losing the precious wicket of Sachin Tendulkar early in the innings as a result of dubious umpiring, two of the most flourishing batsmen Yuvraj and Sehwag displayed their all skills to reach their individual centuries and a 221-run stand for the third wicket to put a huge total of 363 for five.
The southpaw Yuvraj made a sensational 117 runs (95 balls) with the help of 17 boundaries and one lofty six, while Sehwag reached to his 10th ODI hundred amassing 116 runs off just 90 balls. Yusuf Pathan too played a cameo down the innings cracking 59 from just 38 balls which include four boundaries and three sixes.
In reply to the mammoth total of Team India, the Lankan batting order collapsed in the beginning when they lost the wicket of Sanath Jayasuria in the very second over of the innings. Except Kumar Sangakkara (83 off 82 balls) and skipper captain Mahela Jayawardene (30), no other stood to hold the challenge.
However, it was India’s left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha who claimed four wickets for just 38 runs in his 10-over spell to give India 3-0 lead in the 5-match series. On the whole, the victory in the last three games was the result of complete team work, not the performance of one or two players.
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