Sachin Tendulkar gave ample display of his class with a scintillating 133-ball 138 as India piled up an imposing 319 for five in the cricket tri-series final against Sri Lanka here today. The 36-year-old Tendulkar seemed to be in imperious form as he notched up his 44th ODI century with a stunning display of strokeplay to provide the foundation for the Indian total at the Premadasa stadium. While the champion batsman anchored the innings brilliantly,captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (56),Yuvraj Singh (56 not out) and Rahul Dravid (39) were the other notable scorers for the Indians. The Lankans have now been left with a stiff asking rate of 6.40 runs per over to win the Compaq Cup while the Indians are determined to make amends for their embarassing defeat in the last match which saw them slip from the number one spot in the ODI rankings. With Dinesh Karthik failing in both the matches,India opted for a new opening pair of Tendulkar and Dravid for the summit showdown and the experienced duo gave the team a flying start. Both Tendulkar and Dravid scored the runs at a brisk pace with the Sri Lanka pacers Nuwan Kulasekara and Thilan Thushara not being able to make much of an impact in the early overs. Dravid set the tempo by cracking Kulasekara to the point boundary in the very second ball of the innings while Tendulkar also picked up the bowler for some special treatment by smacking him to the cover boundary. Tendulkar showed his class when he despatched a slightly fuller length delivery off Kulasekara through the covers to the fence. A few balls later,he picked up a Kulasekara ball from the off stump line and whipped it superbly through midwicket for another boundary. The two experienced batsmen found the runs easy to come by as they took the total to 50 by the end of the 10th over and sought to accelerate the pace of scoring from then on. Dravid got a reprieve when he was on 24 with Tillakaratne Dilshan dropping a fairly simple catch at gully,Thushara being the unlucky bowler. Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakarra introduced Lasith Malinga in the 13th over and Tendulkar greeted him with a glorious backfoot punch to the fence. Dravid then lifted spinner Ajantha Mendis,who was brought into the attack in the 15th over,for a six but his aggression was shortlived as he was dismissed in the very next over. The wily Sanath jayasuriya accounted for Dravid's rather soft dismissal,being caught by Dilshan at the cover region. His knock of 39 contained two boundaries and a six. Dravid set the tempo by cracking Kulasekara to the point boundary in the very second ball of the innings while Tendulkar also picked up the bowler for some special treatment by smacking him to the cover boundary. Tendulkar showed his class when he despatched a slightly fuller length delivery off Kulasekara through the covers to the fence. A few balls later,he picked up a Kulasekara ball from the off stump line and whipped it superbly through midwicket for another boundary. The two experienced batsmen found the runs easy to come by as they took the total to 50 by the end of the 10th over and sought to accelerate the pace of scoring from then on. Dravid got a reprieve when he was on 24 with Tillakaratne Dilshan dropping a fairly simple catch at gully,Thushara being the unlucky bowler. Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakarra introduced Lasith Malinga in the 13th over and Tendulkar greeted him with a glorious backfoot punch to the fence. Dravid then lifted spinner Ajantha Mendis,who was brought into the attack in the 15th over,for a six but his aggression was shortlived as he was dismissed in the very next over. The wily Sanath jayasuriya accounted for Dravid's rather soft dismissal,being caught by Dilshan at the cover region. His knock of 39 contained two boundaries and a six.
