Calm Dhoni sees India through in tense final

Skipper MS Dhoni helped India overcome a mid-innings collapse and guided them to a thrilling 1-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the tri-series final at Port of Spain. India seemed to have the game in the bag after having bowled Sri Lanka out for 201, but the Islanders, backed by a terrific spell by Rangana Herath, came back strongly. Only MS Dhoni stood in their way at the end and the Indian skipper stole the game away from them with 3 big hits off the last over off Shaminda Eranga. With 15 required of the final over, MSD smashed a six off the second ball, a four off the next and another maximum to wrap up the game and the series in style. India were provided a solid platform by Rohit Sharma, who hit a composed fifty to take the team to 139/3. But they were soon setback and reduced to 167/8, giving Sri Lanka control. However, Dhoni hit a brilliant 45 to help India get over the line. Earlier in the innings, India suffered early setbacks during their chase with Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli perishing to Shaminda Eranga. Sharma then dropped anchor and together with Dinesh Karthik helped India ease back into contention. Just when India looked like they would canter to a win, Herath struck for SL. He had Karthik out caught at slip to put the game on level ground. Sharma once again found an able partner in Suresh Raina and soon brought up his fifty as India crossed the 100 run mark. With the required run-rate not too high, Raina and Sharma were able to play watchfully and choose the bowlers to attack. Sharma made full use of the opportunities to bring up his fifty soon and seemed well set to see India through. Once again, it was left to Herath to bring back SL into the game and the left-armer struck thrice in quick succession to remove Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin and leave India in dire straits. Dhoni watched helplessly from the other end as the wickets tumbled and India were staring at defeat at 167/8. Eventually, the Indian skipper showed why he is so highly regarded as the best finisher in limited overs cricket as he soaked up the pressure before delivering the hammer blow in the last over. Batting first, Sri Lanka's innings turned out to be a tale of two halves as they wasted a fine start and ended up with a total that was at least 40 runs behind the target they would have set for themselves. The Islanders were in an extremely comfortable position at 171/2 with a little over 10 overs left. But some extremely shoddy batting coupled with a good effort from the Indian bowlers saw Mathews' men lose their last 8 wickets for just 30 runs and they were bowled out for 201. The SL top order batted around the stylish Kumar Sangakkara who hit a composed 71 off 100 balls. Lahiru Thirimanne and Mahela Jayawardene too chipped in with vital contributions but none of them were able to carry on from their starts. SL had made a steady start to proceedings but India came back strongly thanks to Bhuvneshwar Kumar's double blow, accounting for both the openers. Sangakkara took over after this and together with Thirimanne helped set a strong platform for Sri Lanka. However, the Indian spinners were on top of their game towards the end and picked up wickets at regular intervals to stifle the Lankan progress. Jadeja was the wrecker-in-chief with a 4 wicket haul while R Ashwin too picked up 2 important wickets to contribute to the cause. Ishant Sharma too picked up 2 quick wickets at the end to leave SL with a sub-par total.