Srilanka victory shatters India

World Cup, Group B, Trinidad: Sri Lanka 254-6 (50 ovs) bt India 185 (43.3 ovs) by 69 runs

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Tendulkar lasted only three balls before he departed for nought

India are almost certain to follow Pakistan out of the World Cup after a 69-run defeat by Sri Lanka in Trinidad.

The remote hope for the 2003 finalists is Bermuda beating Bangladesh on Sunday and even then run-rates would feature.

They began well after putting Sri Lanka in, but Upul Tharanga hit a battling 64 before Chamara Silva and Tillakaratne Dilshan shared 83 to help post 254-6.

India were 44-3 when Sachin Tendulkar fell third ball and despite Rahul Dravid's 60 they were all out for 185.

Robin Uthappa appeared to have been given a license to attack, as he carved Chaminda Vaas for successive boundaries in the fifth over.

But he was brilliantly caught and bowled by the wily left-arm seamer two overs later with the score on 25.

Sourav Ganguly seemed to be playing more of an anchor role, having made only two twos and three singles in his seven from 23 balls.

But in the 11th over he tried an ambitious lofted drive and it skewed to mid-off where Muttiah Muralitharan ran round smartly to take an agile catch.

Virender Sehwag assumed the role of aggressor and lofted Vaas back over his head for an imperious six.

Murali was introduced into the attack after 16 overs but endured a difficult opening over, with two wides and a long-hop which was despatched to the cover boundary.

Sehwag and Dravid recorded their fifty stand from 61 balls and had reduced to requirement to 157 from 27.1 overs.

But Sehwag edged Murali to slip and two wickets fell in successive overs to all-but seal India's fate.

Yuvraj Singh called Dravid for a quick single to backward square but the skipper refused, and despite a wayward throw, bowler Sanath Jayasuriya ample time to remove the bails, with Yuvraj way out of his ground.

Mahendra Dhoni departed first ball and did not even need to look at the umpire when he was beaten by a quicker one from Murali that nipped in and trapped him in front of middle stump.

Dravid then injured his foot and had to bat with a runner, but still managed to smash five fours in an over from Lasith Malinga.

He was dropped on 58 by Russel Arnold at backward square but next ball lofted Jayasuriya to the irrespressible Murali at long-off and the last hope was gone.

Tharanga took advantage of some moments of fortune

India began the match under great pressure and the enormity of the situation appeared to have got to Zaheer Khan, as a mixture of wides and leg-byes resulted in an opening over costing 10 runs.

Ajit Agarkar was immediately on the button from the other end, and had a very strong appeal against Jayasuriya with his very first ball.

Jayasuriya, who blasted 109 in the previous game against Bangladesh, was unable to give his team their usual blistering start.

He could easily have been lbw again to Zaheer on six, but on the same score he sliced to third man.

Mahela Jayawardene also looked out of sorts, and was particularly aggrieved with his dismissal shortly afterwards.

The captain glanced Agarkar down the leg-side where Mahendra Dhoni swooped to his left to pouch an excellent catch.

Sangakkara arrived with positive intentions, pushing a quick single from his first delivery, although a direct hit would have seen him make an embarrassingly immediate return to the pavilion.

He hit one sumptuous cover drive to the boundary before dragging in agricultural fashion to long-on.

That presented a wicket to Ganguly's occasional medium pace, the former skipper having almost dismissed Tharanga in his first over when a cut flew past the outstretched hand of Yuvraj Singh in the gully.

Tharanga's charmed life continued when two inside edges went past the stumps and a drive narrowly cleared mid-on.

A more assured cut from Tharanga recorded the Sri Lanka 100 from the first ball of the 26th over and the left-hander began to look in command.

At the 30-over stage, the Sri Lankans were 124-3, and would have fancied their chances of accelerating the score when Sachin Tendulkar was brought on.

But the master batsman, sending down a clever mix of leg-spin and medium pace, struck in his second over when a quicker ball trapped Tharanga.

Silva was also fortunate to escape with two 'chinese' cuts, Zaheer the unlucky bowler, but reached his fourth successive ODI fifty.

The 200 arrived from the final ball of the 44th over, but as the fifth-wicket pair tried to step up the pace, Dilshan got a thin edge to a wild swipe.

After Silva fell in similar fashion, luck continued to go against Zaheer as Chaminda Vaas edged his first ball through a vacant slip area.

It was a timely reprieve as Vaas lofted Munaf Patel over the ropes in a 48th over costing 16, and lifted the total from a modest one to a target that was to put too much pressure on India.