Sri Lanka won the toss & decided firstly to field

On Tuesday, at 12th 1-day Virender Sehwag’s 1st century since 2005 reserved India for a massive total in the 1st 1day international in opposition to Sri Lanka at Rajkot. Sehwag & Tendulkar’s partnership started with 153-run. Indiastarted on a cool note & scored just 19 runs in the beginning 5 overs but finally Virendra Sehwag broke the restraints in 6th over with as much as 3 boundaries.

Tendulkar hit boundary of Nuwan Kulasekara & Welegedera. Its Sehwag’s 36th 1-day 50 & his 4th against the Srilanka& Sachin’s 92nd fifties in ODI & his 16th against Lankans. India was cruising at 107 runs without any loss after fifteen over; here Sehwag was at 54 & Tendulkar at 52.

Sri Lanka must be wrong if they felt that the Powerplay phase was over. The introduction of Angelo Matthews’ entry in 16th over woke up Virender from his snooze.

Even as Sangakkara introduced the experienced Jayasuriya to stem the flow of runs, the equally experienced Tendulkar danced down the wicket and cleared the fence for his first maximum. Tendulkar’s 63-ball 69 runs comprises of 10 hits to the boundary.

The spectators watched the match without Muralitharan & Malinga, as both were injured.

In contrast India missed Yuvraj Singh who was having finger injury.

Sri Lanka gave a huge surprise when they announced that Jayasuriya would bat at No. seven & Tharanga would do opening with Dilshan.

India’s scenario boosted up with Zaheer & Harbhajan whilst Virat Kohli replaced Yuvraj.

India's batting line-up came up with a stunning display of strokeplay to achieve the highest successful run chase in Twenty20 history, as they defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets in the second game and levelled the two-match series 1-1 in Mohali on Saturday.

After the visitors posted a competitive 206 for seven, the Indians rode on superlative batting from Virender Sehwag (64), M S Dhoni (46) and Yuvraj Singh (60 not out) to overhaul the target with five balls to spare in a thrilling floodlit contest.

India, in the process, surpassed the earlier highest run chase of 208 for 2, which South Africa made against the West Indies in Johannesburg in September 2007.

Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss, and elected to bat first on pitch that offered some assistance to the bolwers. The visitors were off to a bad start when, Ishant Sharma dismissed the dangerous Tillakaratne Dilshan (1) in his very first over.

Ishant produced a gem of a delivery to knock Dilshan's leg stump out, with just one-run on the board.

After the early jolt, Sanath Jayasuriya (31) and Kumar Sangakkara (59) steadied the ship with a brilliant counter-attack, smashing the Indian bowlers to all corners of the park.

Jayasuriya was particularly severe on Ashish Nehra as he clobbered him for three fours and a six in his second over. Nehra was never allowed to settle into any rhythm as both the Lankan batsmen attacked him from the very beginning.

The duo brought about the 50-run partnership in just 21 balls and the introduction of the slower balls hardly had any impact on the scoring rate.

Sri Lanka's cause was helped by some poor fielding from the Indians, who continued to spill catches much to the embarrassment of new fielding consultant Mike Young.

Jayasuriya was eventually dismissed by Yusuf Pathan.

Sangakkara took over from Jayasuriya and continued with his brilliant form, smashing a brilliant 59 off 31-balls, which included eight boundaries and two sixes.

Sangakkara got a reprieve on 28, when Ravindra Jadeja dropped him on the boundary off Yusuf Pathan. The Lankans were also helped by some indicipline by the Indian bowlers who gave away as many as 24 extras.

The Sri Lankan skipper completed his second half century of the series, but could not survive long. He went for a lofted shot only to be caught by Nehra off Yuvraj.

Chasing a stiff challenge of 207 for victory to level the series, openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir gave India a rollicking start.

Sehwag began by smashing the ball right from the first over of the innings. Pacer Weeraratne was at the receiving end as the right-hander hit a huge six over extra cover in his first over.

The Sri Lankan fielders too seemed to be following in the footsteps of their Indian counterparts, also missing early opportunities to run-out both Sehwag and his opening partner Gambhir (21).

Sehwag was fortunate to get a reprieve when Jayasuriya, running in from long-on, failed to latch on to a mis-hit from the batsman. The duo put up a 50-run partnership for the opening wicket, off just 31 balls.

However, Gambhir was soon dismissed by a throw from Malinga that caught the batsman short of his ground.

Sehwag, in his bid to accelerate, gave a simple catch to Kaushalya Weeraratne at long-on off Lasith Malinga.

With the run-rate steadily rising, in came birthday boy Yuvraj Singh. The southpaw soon found his rhythm, taking 19 runs in the 13th over, bowled by Weeraratne.

Yuvraj began in his usual style, smashing the second ball he faced to the extra cover fence. He followed it with a massive six towards long-off, and three balls later heaved the ball over the ground for yet another maximum.

The 50-run partnership for the third wicket between skipper Dhoni and Yuvraj came in just 23 balls.

By the end of 15 overs, India was 159 for two, still needing 48 runs from the remaining five overs. But Yuvraj soon changed the equation in the 16th over.

Yuvraj notched his fifth Twenty20 half century, which contained as many as five sixes and three fours. He brought up the winning runs with a six.

Meanwhile Dhoni, having registered his highest score in T20 internationals (46), was cleaned up by a superb yorker from Dilhara Fernando.

Suresh Raina (9) also was dismissed cheap. But, by then, it was a lost cause for Sri Lanka.

Yuvraj was declared man-of-the-match for his all-round display. He picked three Sri Lanka wickets and hit a match-winning 60 not out.

india felt the pressure in T20

Sri lanka bounced back strongly after defeat in test series and won the 1st T20 in styly by 29 runs by scoring their highest T20 score of 215-5 in 20 overs.

Kumara Sangakkra was Man of the Match for his brilliant 78 runs off just 37 balls with 11 fours and 2 sixes.

India maintained their poor form in shortest version of the game T20 as the lost 1st Twenty20 against Sri Lanka in a high scoring match by 29 runs on Wednesday, 9th December, 2009 at Nagpur. Sri Lanka leading the series by 1-0.

India started well with the bowl but dropped jayasuriya early and in the next over hi hit 5 fours and the captain Kumara Sangakkra hit 37 balls 78 runs with 11fours and 2 sixes helped Sri lanka to made their highest sore of T20 215-5 in 20 overs.

India strted weeland placed comfortably at one stage with 92-1 in 8 overs and then lost 5 wickets for 23 runs and reduced to 115-6 but lower order fight well to take the match close.

India top Test cricket rankings for first time after Sri Lanka defeat

India secured top spot in the test rankings for the first time after handing Sri Lanka a second successive innings defeat and wrapping up their three-match series 2-0 on Sunday.

Zaheer Khan took three more wickets to record his eighth five-wicket haul as India won the third and final test by an innings and 24 runs on the final day.

"I think the real tough task from now on is to maintain this performance," said India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. "The real tough job starts from here."

Left-arm Zaheer dismissed overnight century-maker Kumar Sangakkara (137) caught behind in the day's opening over to kill off any hopes Sri Lanka had of saving the test.

Resuming on 274-6 and needing 60 runs to make India bat a second time, Sangakkara edged the third ball to wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni.

Zaheer then dismissed Rangana Herath (three) and overnight batsman Nuwan Kulasekara (19) in a fiery four-over spell to finish with five for 72.

"Zaheer is back in the rhythm and it was good to see the fast bowlers do well in India," Dhoni said.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh then dismissed Muttiah Muralitharan for 14 as India wrapped up the tail in 7.4 overs.

"It was tough but India outperformed us in all three departments of the game in the last two tests," Sri Lankan captain Sangakkara said.

"In this game, we nearly put 400 but (Virender) Sehwag came and took the game away from us."

The 2-0 series victory saw India jump from third in the rankings to displace South Africa at the top.

"Fantastic to be at this position," Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar told the official broadcasters.

"I have been waiting a long time to get to this position. In fact just not me, (the) entire nation."

Sri Lanka, who are still looking for their first test win on Indian soil, dropped from second place to fourth in the rankings, behind Australia.

Opener Sehwag, named player of the match and the series, scored a spectacular 293 and Dhoni cracked 100 not out to guide India to their highest innings total of 726 for nine declared.

Tillakaratne Dilshan scored a century and Angelo Mathews missed out on his maiden century by one run in Sri Lanka's first-innings 393.

India opened up 1-0 lead by winning the second test by an innings and 144 runs after the first test ended in a draw.

Sri Lanka will play two Twenty20 internationals and five one-day internationals starting on Wednesday.

India vs Srilanka 3rd test live streaming: India Srilanka live match, score highlight, Sehwag out

Mumbai, December 4: India vs Srilanka 3rd test live streaming: India Srilanka live match, score highlight, Sehwag out. Though Sehwag could not complete his triple century and gave his wicket to Muralitharan, he still managed 293 runs, just hundred runs short of what the whole Sri Lankan side scored.

Sehwag on his way to 293 runs smashed not only fours and sixes, but also scored fastest 250 runs in the history of test cricket.

He always plays cricket in his own style and dictates terms to the opposition bowlers.

A mighty batsman known for his flamboyant style and long innings-if he stays at the crease-he was so impressive that everyone is praiseful for her.

Yesterday was a fest day for cricket loving Mumbaikars. Many people who heard that Sehwag has completed century reached the stadium. In recent memory I don’t remember seeing so many people coming to see a test match.

Sehwag holds several records, especially in test cricket. It includes

Fastest 250 in Test cricket in terms of balls faced.
Most Test runs in a single day by an Indian. Sehwag made 257 in a day against SA in Chennai. He surpassed this in making 284 in a day against Sri Lanka. The latter was the second consecutive innings in which India scored more than 400 runs in a single day in Tests. Sehwag also made a century at faster than a run a ball on the previous equation.
Only Indian batsman to have scored two triple centuries in Test cricket. He is the third batsman in the history of Test cricket to score two triple centuries, alongside Sir Donald Bradman and Brian Lara.
Fastest century in ODI cricket by an Indian - 100 runs off 60 balls against New Zealand in 2009.
Second fastest ODI 50 by an Indian.[94] - a record, he shares with Rahul Dravid, Kapil Dev and Yuvraj Singh - when he took 22 balls against Kenya in 2001[95]
Six double centuries - the first three of which came against Pakistan.[96] Greg Chappell is the only other player to have scored multiple double centuries against Pakistan (2). Sehwag is the only Indian to have made six Test double centuries.
Highest score by an Indian batsman in Test cricket. He first achieved this when he scored 309 against Pakistan in Multan in 2004, and bettered his previous record in March 2008 at Chennai against South Africa by scoring 319.

Even today morning there were many people who came to the venue to see him complete the triple century. Though he got out early at 293 runs, they were not disappointed.

Sachin Tendulkar their very own fellow Mumbaikar was there at the crease playing in his same inimitable style. In fact the run rate went up since Tendulkar came at the crease.

Viru scored 293 - his sixth double-hundred. And this turned out to be game's third highest individual score in one day's play.

In his massive score, he was assisted by fellow opener Murali Vijay (87) and Rahul Dravid (62 not out) as India at the end of the day was on 443 for one.

This is 50 runs more than of Sri Lanka's total of 393. If the batters play like this then India is in a solid position to take a huge first-innings lead.

Earlier in the day, the Lankans lost batsman Angelo Mathews for 99. He was bowled out within the opening half-hour. The morning session belonged to the Indian bowlers as they struck at intervals completely dominating the day.

Lankan batsmen, who were targeting a huge score to put India into pressure, failed to stay on the crease for long.

At stumps, giving Sehwag company was Rahul Dravid, who was batting on 87, as India scored record number of runs on a day and that too in less than three sessions and also took a 50-run lead. It was also the second time that India scored 400 or more in a day's play, surpassing the 417 for two on the first day of the second Test in Kanpur.

It was a class act by the Indian batsmen, especially Sehwag who completely dominated the day and scored at more than five-and-a-half runs per over after bowlers packed up the Sri Lankan tail within 30 minutes early in the day at the historic Brabourne.

Sri lankan bowlers had a torrid time and Sehwag didn't allow any of the them to settle down. He played a flawless innings and was severe on the spinners as Muttiah Muralitharan's woeful form in the series continued. The only opportunity Sehwag gave the Sri Lankans was when he was on 273 but Mahela Jayawardene failed to grab it at first slip.

Both the openers, Sehwag and Murali Vijay (87), set the tone of the innings by giving a promising start with their 221-run first wicket stand. The duo quickly raced on to score 93 by the lunch break and accelerated the scoring in the second session by adding another 138 runs. With Dravid, Sewhag added another 222 runs for the unbroken second-wicket stand to make matters worse for Sri Lanka.

Sehwag, who scored a breezy 167 in Kanpur, started cautiously but then went on a rampage hitting 40 fours and seven sixes in the second fastest double century. He simply toyed with the Sri Lankan attack and none escaped the fury of his blade.

Vijay, playing his second Test match, was the perfect foil for Sewhag and rotated the strike, but never lost out on opportunites to punish the loose deliveries.

Sehwag also got to his 6,000 Test runs and that too in style by hitting left-arm spinner Rangana Herath for a big six over the bowler's head. He also became the third fastest Indian after Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar to score 6,000 runs in Test cricket. Gavaskar achieved the mark in 117 innings, Tendulkar in 120 and Sehwag has taken 123 innings.

Vijay got his maiden half-century by hitting Muttiah Muralitharan for a huge six over long on. He was set for his maiden Test hundred when trapped leg before by Herath. Vijay hit ten fours and a six during his 121-ball innings.

Earlier, Sri Lanka could add just 27 runs to their overnight score of 366 for eight. Angelo Matthews was unfortunate to get run out one short of his maiden Test century and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha trapped Chanaka Welegedara leg before wicket to wrap up the Dri Lankan innings.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh picked up four for 112 while Ojha bagged three for 107.

India lead the series 1-0 and a win here will propel them to the top spot in Test rankings. The historic Brabourne Stadium is hosting the first Test match in 36 years. (with IANS inputs)

Ishant dropped, Sreesanth makes a comeback in ODI squad

Mumbai, Dec 2 (IANS) After a match winning performance in the second Test in Kanpur, Shantakumaran Sreesanth made a comeback in the one-day side at the expense of an out-of-form Ishant Sharma.The selection committee that met here Wednesday under the chairmanship of chief selector Krisnamachary Srikkanth also brought back Zaheer Khan in the side for the first two ODIs against Sri Lanka.

After recovering from a shoulder surgery, Zaheer made a successful comeback with the Test and now will spearhead the attack in ODIs as well.

But the selectors decided to rest both Zaheer and Harbhajan Singh for the two Twenty20 internationals against Sri Lanka. Ashok Dinda and R. Ashwin were the two new faces in the Twenty20 side while Rohit Sharma makes a comeback. Ishant also managed to retain his place in the Twenty20 side.

ODI squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Shantakumaran Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha, Sudeep Tyagi and Virat Kohli.

T20s: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Kartick, Yusuf Pathan, R. Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Shantakumaran Sreesanth, Ashok Dinda, Sudeep Tyagi, Pragyan Ojha and Rohit Sharma