Dilshan says goodbye to Test cricket

Tillakaratne Dilshan says goodbye to Test cricket. Only ODIs and T20 cricket for the explosive Sri Lankan batsman from now on.

Power of David Miller

David Miller came up with a blistering knock while Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Farhaan Behardien came up with fine efforts with the ball as South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by 56 runs in the third ODI at Pallekele. Opting to bat, the visitors were reeling at 154/7 in the 42nd over before Miller's quick-fire 85 off 72 balls lifted them to a competitive 223/7. In reply, a fighting 65 from Thisara Perera went in vain as Sri Lanka were bowled out 167 with Tsotsobe (4/22) and Behardien (3/19) doing the bulk of the damage.

The victory was South Africa's first against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka since September 2nd, 1993 and skipper AB de Villiers was pleased that the visiting team were finally able to end their losing streak. Speaking after the match, de Villiers said: "It's hard to explain how proud I'm of the guys. It wasn't an easy game. We've made a big step forward after today."

While praising Miller for his fine knock, de Villiers was also happy with the performances of Tsotsobe and Morne Morkel. The South African captain though mentioned that his team played irresponsibly at times and have to improve going forward. "Lopsy (Tsotsobe) is a class performer and bowled exceptionally well today. Morne was quite aggressive today, he is the leader of the attack and set the standards upfront. Very irresponsible cricket at times from us, a run-out and I take responsibility for that. I cost Faf (du Plessis) his wicket."

Home team captain Angelo Mathews, who was back in the side after missing the first two games due to a suspension, said Sri Lanka did a good job with the ball but failed to deliver in the end overs. The Lankan skipper also praised Thisara Perera for his breezy knock while asking for the rest of the batters to step up.

"Our bowlers did a brilliant job, except for the last three overs we did well. The batters have to step up. Thisara was batting on a different strip, in the end it was too much for him. I got out at the wrong time, with Thisara at the other end I should have hung out, but it was unfortunate. Unfortunately, we kept losing wickets at the wrong time."

Man of the Match Miller said it was a tough track to bat on with the ball not coming on to the bat. He also mentioned that they could not accelerate a lot earlier as they did not have wickets in hand.

"It was tough upfront. The wicket was really slow and it took time to adjust. (I) really don't know where the power comes from, (I) work hard in the nets and then play my shots. Our plan was to go hard late on as we didn't have wickets in hand, (we) should have gone a bit earlier."

India defeat Sri Lanka to win Tri-nation trophy

A beaming India's skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said after leading his team to an amazing victory in the tri-series final against Sri Lanka that he backed his instincts to get 15 runs in the last over to clinch the match.

Dhoni in his post-match remarks Thursday said he knew any bowler who was going to bowl the last over would not be as experienced as Lasith Malinga and he backed himself to get the required runs.

"I knew I could look forward to getting the 15 runs in the last over as Shaminda Eranga was an inexperienced bowler and my instinct worked today (Thursday)," Dhoni said.

Dhoni said he had to change his bat twice in the closing stages of the match as he needed a heavier bat.

Dhoni, who pushed his deputy Virat Kohli ahead to receive the $60,000 winners' cheque and the Celkon trophy along with him as Kohli had led the side to the final, said he was blessed with a smart cricketing sense in assessing the situation.

A distraught Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews felt that Dhoni was a great finisher and eventually he made the difference.

Stellar performance from Bhuvneshwar Kumar

A stellar performance from Bhuvneshwar Kumar coupled with some good support from Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma helped India thrash a woeful Sri Lanka by 81 runs in a rain reduced contest at Port-of-Spain. Chasing a Duckworth-Lewis revised 178 off 26 overs, Lanka were bundled out for a paltry 96. India stormed into the finals where once again they will face their familiar and favourite foes on Thursday.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field expecting some moisture and seam movement with the heavy conditions around. Dilhara Lokuhettige replaced the injured Nuwan Kulasekara and Rangana Herath came in for Senanayake. The opening seam bowling pair of Eranga and Dilhara bowled a testing initial spell, keeping the length full and swinging the ball in both directions. Rohit Sharma appeared in particular discomfort and was very circumspect.

Sri Lanka wallop hapless India

Sri Lanka came storming back into the series with an astounding 161 run win over India. Upul Tharanga was the star with the bat, smashing an unbeaten 174, while Mahela Jayawardene too was equally impressive during his sublime 112 ball 107. On the bowling front, Rangana Herath and Sachithra Senanayake picked five wickets between them to leave India in dire straits as they slumped to their 2nd straight defeat in the tournament.

Chasing a mammoth 349 to win, India suffered early setbacks with both Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan falling cheaply. India failed to recover from the blows and were left trailing throughout the chase thereafter.