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India picked up their first win of the Commonwealth Bank Tri-series by beating Sri Lanka by 4 wickets in an entertaining encounter at Perth on Wednesday. Batting first, Sri Lanka posted an under par 233/8 in their 50 overs with virtually all their batsmen getting starts, but only Dinesh Chandimal (64) going on to convert that into a half-century. India bowled well, with R Ashwin the pick of the bowlers, picking up 3-32 from his 10 overs. India's chase mirrored Sri Lanka's batting effort to a large extent with also a lot of starts, and only Virat Kohli (77) making a telling contribution. The difference between the bowling units though spoke volumes with most of India's batsmen getting themselves out as Sri Lanka appeared to misread the wicket and play an all seam attack. India got themselves in a spot of bother towards the end, faltering to 181/6, but Ravindra Jadeja (24*) and Ashwin (30*) played some sensible cricket to see their side past the finish line.

Sri Lanka made their first appearance of the Commonwealth Bank Tri-series on what looked like a very competitive cricket wicket at Perth with something in it for the bowlers. The returning Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene showed he had lost none of his luck with the coins, winning the toss and opting to bat first. The Lankans made the decision to field an all pace attack with Dilshan the only man capable of bowling some of the slow stuff. A long batting line-up included the two all-rounders Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera, followed by the three recognized seamers - Malinga, Kulasekara and Prasad. The Indians meanwhile continued to rotate at the top of the order with Gautam Gambhir making way for Virender Sehwag, while an injury to impressive leg-spinner Rahul Sharma allowed veteran paceman Zaheer Khan to take his place in this game.

Zaheer and Praveen Kumar shared the new ball, while Dilshan and Tharanga opened the innings for the Lankans. Praveen was hit out of the attack after just the one over with Dilshan smacking him to the fence on a couple of occasions. Zaheer though responded by picking up his customary wicket of a left-handed opener with Upul Tharanga (4) giving an easy catch to Sachin Tendulkar at first slip in just the third over. Dilshan at the other end, relieved of the burden of captaincy, batted like a man on a mission, stroking the Lankans through to 46/1 at the end of the mandatory powerplay.

India lost some of their edge in the next few overs as too many ordinary deliveries allowed the Lankan batsmen to free their arms and find the fence. Surprisingly though, India were able to squeeze things incredibly well in the bowling powerplay, conceding just 11 runs in a 5 over spell that also saw them pick up the vital wicket of Kumar Sangakkara for 21. Zaheer Khan was the man who did the damage once again, with Dhoni producing an exceptional catch flying to his left.

Momentum continued to flow India's way as they kept a tight leash on the runs by bowling consistent lines to the Sri Lankan batsmen. Sri Lanka finally broke the shackles by getting their first boundary in 12 overs, but just as they threatened to get on top again, Tillakaratne Dilshan fell for 48 in the 25th over, setting them back just a bit again. Ravindra Jadeja picked up the wicket with a short-wide delivery that Dilshan really should have sent to the boundary, but instead found the fielder inside the circle. Luck seemed to elude the Indians over the next few overs with mistimed aerial shots evading the fielders, but the Men in Blue would have been happy to keep Sri Lanka down to 116/3 in 30 overs.

Sri Lanka received a reprieve with Mahendra Singh Dhoni putting down a routine catch offered by Mahela Jayawrdene off Ashwin. The Lankan skipper was on 18 when he was dropped, but fell to the same bowler in his next over, caught on the boundary for 23. Thisara Perera was bumped up the order to take advantage of the batting powerplay, but Ashwin got him stumped for 7 in the final over before the field spread. At the other end, Dinesh Chandimal brought up his half-century with a dab on the leg side as Sri Lanka made their way to 172/5 in 40 overs.

The long handles came out in the last 10 overs, but the Sri Lankans were struggling to time the ball as they looked to take the attack to the Indian bowlers. Chandimal's excellent knock ended for 64 when he too was stumped off Ashwin, this time off the carrom ball. The young off-spinner conceded just 1 run in the 44th over, and had done brilliantly to recover from the mauling he received at the MCG. Sri Lanka were unable to make the most of their long batting line-up with Lahiru Thirimanne and Nuwan Kulasekara making 7 each before being dismissed. Angelo Mathews kept his cool while all others struggled around him to post a useful 33 from just 28 deliveries to take Sri Lanka to a seemingly competitive 233/8 in their 50 overs.

India made a predictable start with Virender Sehwag racing away to 10 before throwing his wicket away, suckered into slicing the ball down to third man off Lasith Malinga. The Sri Lankan pace spearhead took advantage of the extra bounce in Perth to get Sehwag to slash at a short ball, and Kulasekara running around at third man did the rest. Tendulkar took charge at the other end, enjoying the ball coming on to the bat on an even track, though Virat Kohli struggled to get the ball off the square with Sri Lanka bowling a tight line to the youngster. The first 10 overs contributed 47 to the Indian chase with Tendulkar looking solid on 26 and Kohli battling his way to 9.

India had a bit of good fortune in the 11th over as an attempted glide from Tendulkar off Mathews saw the ball kiss the inside edge of the bat and barely miss the stumps. The Lankan bowlers lost a bit of their discipline to Kohli in the overs that followed, allowing the heir apparent of Indian cricket to find some form out there in the middle.

The Indian innings was moving merrily along and Mahela Jayawardene decided to tighten things up by taking the bowling powerplay in the 18th over. Almost mirroring the Lankan innings, the Indian scored just 10 runs in that 5 over window, losing the massive wicket of Tendulkar in the process. Angelo Mathews did the damage, once again inducing an inside edge from the Little Master, and this time the ball finding its way onto the stumps. Like Dilshan, Tendulkar too fell for 48. At the end of 22 overs, India were slowing down considerably at 97/2.

With Rohit Sharma struggling to find his timing, Virat Kohli took charge of proceedings out in the middle. Sharma was lucky to survive when an attempted hook caught the bottom of the bat, but landed between two fielders. The following over, an outside edge from Sharma raced past slip to the third man boundary. Kohli was having no such worries at the other end, finding the boundary in three successive overs to bring up his half-century. Sharma's luck though ran out on him, with a powerful cut off Perera racing to Dilshan at backward point, who took an excellent catch.

Suresh Raina came out looking in excellent touch and stroked two beautiful boundaries through the covers. At 157/3 from 32 overs, India were well on course to an easy win. Perhaps tempted by the offer of a bonus point, the Indian batsmen took some unnecessary risks with Raina and MS Dhoni falling in successive overs trying to hit the big shot. Raina was caught on the deep midwicket fence for 24 off the excellent Angelo Mathews, while Dhoni failed to clear mid-on with Dhammika Prasad getting the prized wicket of Sri Lanka's arch nemesis. With only 66 needed from 96 balls the responsibility to see India home lay squarely on the shoulders of young Kohli, who had made his way to 69.

Clearly not learning from past mistakes, Kohli committed the dire sin of running himself out for 77, a ball after spanking Prasad over long-on for the first 6 of the game. A direct hit from Malinga brought a premature end to Kohli's innings, one that will be admired for its ellegance and derided for his stupidity.

With the tail exposed, Mahela predicted tossed the ball to Malinga to try and land a decisive blow. However, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin showed fantastic patience and shot selection to stitch together a 53 run partnership worth to see India safely home. Ashwin almost threw away his wicket with the scored tied, as his attempt to finish the game with a flourish saw the ball go straight up in the air, but a confusion in the field saw two fielders stare at each other while the ball landed between them.

The win was crucial for India, having lost their opening match to Australia on Sunday, and another loss here today would have left them with no points from 2 games. Sri Lanka will now aim to ensure that they do not find themselves behind the eight ball too early in this series as they face up to Australia on Friday at this very venue.

Teams:

Sri Lanka: WU Tharanga, TM Dilshan, KC Sangakkara (wk), LD Chandimal, DPMD Jayawardene*, HDRL Thirimanne, AD Mathews, NLTC Perera, KMDN Kulasekara, SL Malinga, KTGD Prasad.

India: V Sehwag, SR Tendulkar, V Kohli, SK Raina, RG Sharma, MS Dhoni*†, RA Jadeja, R Ashwin, R Vinay Kumar, P Kumar, Z Khan

Mini Scorecard:

Sri Lanka 233/8 (50 overs, 4.66rpo)
D Chandimal 64 (81) R Ashwin 3-32
T Dilshan 48 (79) Z Khan 2-44

India 234/6 (46.4 overs, 5.01rpo)
V Kohli 77 (94) A Mathews 2-31
S Tendulkar 48 (63) T Perera 1-37

India win by 4 wickets with 20 balls to spare

File Photograph Copyright: ICC World T20