Praveen rips through Lankan batting as India triumph

Hobart:India not only had the satisfaction of ensuring a title-clash with Australia in the CB Series but also the comfort of getting another medium-pacer for an option.
Praveen Kumar, an all-rounder from the cricketing outpost of Meerut, ripped through the Sri Lankan batting to help restrict the opposition to 179, a total that was overhauled without any difficulty by India.
Praveen bagged 4-31, including the prized scalps of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. With Ishant Sharma wiping the lower order, Sri Lanka were left with little chance of winning the match and keeping themselves in contention in this tournament.
An unbeaten 63 by in-form Gautam Gambhir and a form-striking half century by Sachin Tendulkar steered India to an easy seven-wicket with 17.4 overs to spare at Hobart on Tuesday.
Chasing a modest 180 for victory, India lost opening batsman Robin Uthappa early on a pitch that eased out considerably.
However, Tendulkar, in the company of Delhi batsman Gambhir, played intelligent cricket before making a hash of a lofted shot.
After playing a couple of flick shots to the mid-wicket boundary, Uthappa, who was dropped in the very first over of the innings by Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene in the slips off Chaminda Vaas, was caught off a leading edge by Ishara Amerasinghe off Lasith Malinga for 11 off nine balls.
Sachin Tendulkar struck the ball well from the word go and looked in great nick. He played some fine cover drives and sweetly-timed flicks and looked set for a big score.
However, he was out for 63 when he tried to lift off-spinner Muthiah Muralitharan over mid-off but caught by Chamara Silva . His 54-ball knock included 10 hits to the fence.
In fact, with nothing in the pitch for the bowlers, a century was there for the asking for the 'little master', who has been woefully out of form in the tri-series so far.
Even though India lost Yuvraj Singh before reaching the target, it was a very satisfying win for them as they were under pressure to win their last league match and move into the best-of-three finals.
After Tendulkar's departure, Yuvraj played some big shots and looked in good nick before he was caught by Tilllakaratne Dilshan off Dilruwan Perera for 36, which came off 35 balls including three fours and a six.
Gambhir, who remained unbeaten on 63 off 89 balls with five hits to the boundary, played yet another match-winning knock and in the company of young Rohit Sharma (three not out) took India to the final with 17 points to their credit.
India will take on the Aussies, who have 26 points to their credit with a match to spare, in the first of the three-finals on Sunday