06 January,2010 08:17 AM IST | | A Correspondent
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara will not forget yesterday's win over India in a hurry. After a series loss in the Test and one-day series in India, Sangakkara led from the front to give Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men a jolt in their tri-series opener.
Ever since Dhoni took over as captain, Sri Lanka's one-day dominance over India has been virtually non-existent. A one-day tour of Sri Lanka invariably ended up in an unsuccessful campaign for the visitors, but Dhoni's Indians can take much credit in the fact that they have tamed the lion in its own den several times to tilt the scales in their favour. Yesterday was an off day though.
Sangakkara (60) who put on 122 for the third wicket with centurion Thilan Samaraweera, also joined Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva, Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene in the 8,000-run club. After months, the Sri Lankan was smiling from ear to ear at the end of a match against India.
He was certainly not chuffed during the first part of the match, the early loss of dangerman Gautam Gambhir notwithstanding. "When we started out in the morning, it was like 'here we go again', but (Chanaka) Welegedara did well to bring us back in. Suraj Randiv bowled well, and I think our fielding was much better. The attitude of the players was brilliant, we were out there to win," said the skipper. Welegedara claimed five wickets which again brought up India's weakness against left-arm quick bowlers.
Thilan Samaraweera's career-best 105 not out was hailed and highly appreciated by the captain.
The last time Sangakkarra's significant contribution with the bat ended up in a win for his country against India was nearly one year ago u2014 Colombo in February 2009 when his 70-ball 84 helped Lanka to a 68-run victory.
