Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni led from the front on that count too at the Gabba on a wet Tuesday.
Despite struggling with a lower back injury, Dhoni couldn't contain himself as Gautam Gambhir pulled Lasith Malinga to long-leg to complete a special century. As the left-hander clenched his fists and let out a war cry at one end of the pitch, the captain leapt in the air and threw out his right fist skywards almost simultaneously at the other, expressing his appreciation and approval.
The Gambhir-Dhoni association, eventually worth an unseparated 184 (175b), had to perforce bear fruit for India to negate the debilitating effects of a four-for-15-collapse that undid the good of openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar in their second match of the triangular series, against Sri Lanka. After a cautious and watchful initial period, the two cut loose with frenzied haste, turbo-charging India to 267 for four after Dhoni won his second straight toss.
Entertainment
The entertainment ended at that point. The rain that had threatened all day made its first appearance towards the tail end of the Indian innings; a little after the two teams retired for the supper break, it picked up in intensity and never stopped. The game being abandoned just before 8 pm was little short of a formality.
Like Sunday, Tuesday too ended with the sides picking up two points apiece. India now top the table with four points, Australia and Sri Lanka have two each; and we haven't had a result yet in this competition!
The washout notwithstanding, India had enough positives to take away. Most notable, of course, was Gambhir's third one-day hundred, an innings of tremendous maturity, crafted with care and diligence, and full of elegant, attractive, innovative strokes. Gambhir walked in with the platform beautifully laid by the Sehwag-Tendulkar opening tandem worth 68 (87b). Quickly, he saw things fall apart around him as Muttiah Muralitharan came into the picture.
When Dhoni joined Gambhir, India's innings was going nowhere. The momentum generated by Tendulkar's stop-start knock — during which he crossed 16,000 one-day international runs — and Sehwag's cameo had been well and truly tossed away. India could ill afford another misadventure, and neither Gambhir nor Dhoni was unaware of that fact.
The first task ahead of the fifth-wicket association was to see off the immediate threat of Murali's fizzing off-spin and the pace, accuracy and prodigious seam movement of Ishara Amerasinghe, by some distance the best Sri Lankan bowler on view. That achieved, they milked the bowling, and then exploded with such devastating effect that the last ten overs yielded 105.
Second chance
Unlike on Sunday when he didn't make the most of two let-offs, Gambhir was determined to make Sri Lanka pay for allowing him a second chance. Kumar Sangakkara put down a fairly regulation catch as Amerasinghe caught the outside edge of the left-hander's bat. Then just 11, Gambhir thanked his lucky stars, put his head down and by way of thanksgiving, treated the Lankans as well as 6,481 fans at the Gabba to exhilarating batsmanship.
Having seen Yuvraj Singh — surprisingly picked ahead of Manoj Tiwari — and Rohit Sharma fall in the space three deliveries in Murali's first over, Gambhir played the ace offie with tremendous respect. Yuvraj edged an expansive drive to first slip, Rohit made no contact with the ball and was adjudged caught behind by Rudi Koertzen.
Gambhir had to assume responsibility, and he did that with aplomb, undoubtedly helped by the calming presence of his captain and good friend at the other end.
Gambhir and Dhoni planned their partnership brilliantly. As Amerasinghe and Murali went off the attack, the left-right combo got on the bike. Dhoni looked to rotate the strike while Gambhir slipped into overdrive, taking a special liking to Lasith Malinga's extra pace. The mini-milestone in the form of a half-century out of the way in 71 deliveries, the second fifty took just 28 more as Sri Lanka's outcricket suffered. Both men hared between the wickets, taking the odd chance but generally calling and responding to each other in a show of excellent understanding.
Towards the end, they threw their bats at just about everything, the skipper not holding back despite a back injury sustained while carting Sanath Jayasuriya over long-on to bring up his fifty. Entertaining stuff, even if there was no reward at the end.
SCORE BOARD
INDIA
Sehwag c S’kkara b Am’singhe 33
(39b, 2x4, 1x6)
Tendulkar b Malinga 35
(52b, 2x4)
Gambhir (not out) 102
(101b, 10x4, 1x6)
Yuvraj c Jaya’dene b M’litharan 2
(11b)
Rohit c S’kkara b Muralitharan 0
(2b)
Dhoni (not out) 88
(95b, 5x4, 1x6)
Extras (LB-3, W-4) 7
Total (for 4 wkts, 50 overs) 267
Fall of wickets: 1-68 (Tendulkar), 2-80 (Sehwag), 3-83 (Yuvraj), 4-83 (Rohit).
Bowling: Chaminda Vaas 10-0-72-0 (w-1), Lasith Malinga 10-1-56-1 (w-1), Amerasinghe 10-2-30-1, Muttiah Muralitharan 10-0-51-2 (w-1), Kapugedera 6-0-23-0 (w-1), Dilshan 1-0-8-0, Jayasuriya 3-0-24-0.
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 24/0; 10: 45/0; 15: 68/1; 20: 83/2; 25: 94/4; 30: 115/4; 35: 138/4; 40: 162/4; 45: 215/4; end of innings: 267/4 in 50 overs.
Runs during: Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 45/0; Power Play 2: 11-15 overs: 23/1; Power Play 3 (three men out): 16-20 overs: 15/1.
