Road to World Cup: India Wins the Series against Sri Lanka

A moral boosting comprehensive victory at Visakhapatnam helped India to win the 4-match series against a spirited Sri Lanka 2-1. After losing the first match by a narrow margin, India bounced back strongly to win back-to-back matches and the series. The victory just before the World Cup lifted the Indian morale to a great extent. India can now take tremendous psychological advantage to the World Cup in the West Indies. The series win against the in-form West Indies and Sri Lanka raised hopes of India doing well in the Caribbeans.

The third match at Vizag was very significant from Indian point of view, as both Sehwag and Yuvraj played brilliant innings to mark their return to form. After being put into bat, Sri Lanka scored a fighting 259/7 in stipulated 47 overs. At one stage, they were 56/4. However, the maiden century (107*) by Chamara Silva helped Sri Lanka to reach a comfortable total. Indians were always on the track and the team's run chase was bolstered by Uthappa's 52, Sehwag's 46, Ganguly's 58* and Yuvraj's 95*.

India reached the target with 6 overs to spare. Chamara Silva was declared man of the match and Saurav Ganguly was adjudged man of the series for his consistent performance in the series. Let's hope that India will continue its fine form and do better in the World Cup 2007.