CUTTACK: Sachin Tendulkar cracked a fluent unbeaten 96 as India spanked a hapless Sri Lanka by seven wickets in a low-scoring third cricket one-day international to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series here today.
Chasing 240 for a win, Tendulkar played the sheet anchor as he ensured that India overhaul the Sri Lankan target comfortably with more than seven overs to spare at the jam-packed Barabati Stadium here.
Stand-in-captain Virender Sehwag contributed a breezy 28-ball 44 while Dinesh Karthik and Gautam Gambhir made unbeaten 36 and 32 respectively as India reached 242 for three in 42.4 overs.
Earlier, young all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja turned the game over its head with his career-best bowling figures of 4/32 as India came back strongly in the second half of Sri Lankan innings to bundle them out for 239 in 44.2 overs after the visitors chose to bat.
Sri Lanka were looking strong to even each 300 at 169 for two in the 25th over before losing way. Jadeja triggered the Lankan batting collapse by removing opener Upul Tharanga who top-scored with 73. The visitors, in fact, lost their last eight wickets for the addition of just 70 runs.
Tendulkar then ensured that fine show by the bowlers did not go waste as he first played second fiddle to Sehwag in the 55-run opening stand and then opened up to hit some delightful boundaries to take the home team past the Lankan total.
Tendulkar, who notched up his 93rd half century today, faced 104 balls and hit 13 fours in his knock.
The two sides now move to Kolkata for the fourth one-dayer on Thursday.
The Indian opening duo of Tendulkar and Sehwag found their rhythm early in the run chase with the Delhi dasher smashing 16 runs from Lasith Malinga's first over.
He hit nine boundaries, three each coming off Nuwan Kulasekara, Malinga and Chanaka Welegedara and all three of them in an over of each bowler. Welegedara broke the opening stand of 55 by dismissing Sehwag in the seventh over.
Unaffected by Sehwag's dismissal, Tendulkar took the Indian chase forward playing sensibly as he added 72 runs with Gambhir before the left-hander became the victim of rookie off-spinner Suraj Randiv who took a low catch off his own bowling.
Tendulkar, who reached his fifty off 52 balls, later opened up to play some exquisite shots through the gaps to the boundary to the delight of the packed Barabati crowd.
In one shot, he improvised on a late cut when he arched his back for an upper cut to a rising Kulasekara delivery that raced over the Sri Lankan wicketkeeper's head for a boundary.
SCOREBOARD:
Sri Lanka:
Upul Tharanga b Jadeja 73
Tillakaratne Dilshan c Karthik b Nehra 41
Kumar Sangakkara st Karthik b Sehwag 46
Mahela Jayawardene c Raina b Harbhajan Singh 2
Thilina Kandamby b Sharma 22
Chamara Kapugedera b Jadeja 15
Nuwan Kulasekara lbw b Jadeja 10
Suraj Randiv c Karthik b Sharma 0
Lasith Malinga b Nehra 13
Ajantha Mendis b Jadeja 6
Chanaka Welegedara not out 2
Extras: (b-1, lb-2, w-6) 9
Total (all out in 44.2 overs) 239
Fall of wickets: 1-65 (Dilshan, 6.2 overs), 2-165 (Sangakkara, 22.3), 3-169 (Tharanga, 24.4), 4-173 (Jayawardene, 25.6), 5-204 (Kapugedera, 34.3), 6-210 (Kandamby, 35.5), 7-210 (Randiv, 35.6), 8-218 (Kulasekara, 38.1), 9-236 (Mendis, 42.6), 10-239 (Malinga, 44.2)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 7 0 49 0
Ishant Sharma 7 0 63 2
Ashish Nehra 6.2 0 32 2
Harbhajan Singh 9 0 29 1
Virender Sehwag 4 0 26 1
Ravindra Jadeja 10 0 32 4
Yuvraj Singh 1 0 5 0
India:
Virender Sehwag c Dilshan b Welegedara 44
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar not out 96
Gautam Gambhir c & b Randiv 32
Yuvraj Singh c Sangakkara b Welegedara 23
Dinesh Karthik not out 36
Extras (lb 5, w 6) 11
Total (for three wickets in 42.4 overs) 242
Fall of wickets: 1-55 (Sehwag, 6.6 overs), 2-127 (Gambhir, 21.3), 3-169 (Yuvraj, 32.5)
Bowling:
Chanaka Welegedara 8 1 35 2
Nuwan Kulasekara 8 0 47 0
Lasith Malinga 9.4 1 55 0
Ajantha Mendis 9 0 67 0
Suraj Randiv 8 1 33 1
Toss: Sri Lanka, who chose to bat
Series: India win by seven wickets, lead 5-match series 2-1
Umpires: Marais Erasmus (South Africa) and Sanjay Hazare
TV umpire: Shavir Tarapore
Match referee: Alan Hurst (Australia)