Dravid helps India level series

GOA – Rahul Dravid became the sixth batsman in history to reach 10 000 one-day runs as he steered India to a series-levelling five-wicket win over Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

Dravid hit a match-winning 66 as India overcame early setbacks to surpass Sri Lanka’s 230-8 in the 47th over of the third one-day international at the Nehru stadium here. The hosts hit 233-5 to level the four-match series 1-1 with the decider to be played in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.The first match in Kolkata was abandoned due to rain and Sri Lanka won the second in Rajkot by five runs.The series is the last for both teams before they head to the Caribbean for the World Cup starting on March 13.India’s victory was set up by left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan who grabbed a career-best 5-42 after Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat in good conditions.Zaheer reduced Sri Lanka to 6-3 in the fifth over before the tourists, electing to take first strike, fought back through the lower order to post a challenging total.Russel Arnold (66 not out) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (42) put on 89 for the sixth wicket after half the side was back in the pavilion for 91 by the 24th over.India, in reply, slipped to 35-2 by the fifth over as Virender Sehwag was caught off Dilhara Fernando for 12 and Sachin Tendulkar was bowled by Nuwan Kulasekara for one.Sourav Ganguly made 48 to boost the score before Dravid and Mahendra Dhoni (67 not out) sealed India’s win with a fifth-wicket stand of 133.Dravid was unlucky to be run out four runs short of victory when bowler Malinga Bandara deflected a hit from Dhoni on to the wicket with the non-striker out of his crease.Dravid joined team-mates Tendulkar and Ganguly, Inzamam-ul-Haq of Pakistan, Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka and Brian Lara of the West Indies in the exclusive 10,000-run club when he reached 22.The Indian captain, a veteran of 309 one-dayers, now has 10,044 runs with 12 hundreds and 77 half-centuries.Nampa-AFPThe hosts hit 233-5 to level the four-match series 1-1 with the decider to be played in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.The first match in Kolkata was abandoned due to rain and Sri Lanka won the second in Rajkot by five runs.The series is the last for both teams before they head to the Caribbean for the World Cup starting on March 13.India’s victory was set up by left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan who grabbed a career-best 5-42 after Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat in good conditions.Zaheer reduced Sri Lanka to 6-3 in the fifth over before the tourists, electing to take first strike, fought back through the lower order to post a challenging total.Russel Arnold (66 not out) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (42) put on 89 for the sixth wicket after half the side was back in the pavilion for 91 by the 24th over.India, in reply, slipped to 35-2 by the fifth over as Virender Sehwag was caught off Dilhara Fernando for 12 and Sachin Tendulkar was bowled by Nuwan Kulasekara for one.Sourav Ganguly made 48 to boost the score before Dravid and Mahendra Dhoni (67 not out) sealed India’s win with a fifth-wicket stand of 133.Dravid was unlucky to be run out four runs short of victory when bowler Malinga Bandara deflected a hit from Dhoni on to the wicket with the non-striker out of his crease.Dravid joined team-mates Tendulkar and Ganguly, Inzamam-ul-Haq of Pakistan, Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka and Brian Lara of the West Indies in the exclusive 10,000-run club when he reached 22.The Indian captain, a veteran of 309 one-dayers, now has 10,044 runs with 12 hundreds and 77 half-centuries.Nampa-AFP