No Mountain High Enough

Diwali-eve fireworks by wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who smashed a dazzling unbeaten 183, took India to a 3-0 lead in the seven-match one-day series against Sri Lanka at Jaipur today.

Ten towering sixes and 15 fours studded Dhoni's 145-ball innings which fell 11 runs short of the world record one-day score of 194 by Pakistan's Saeed Anwar. This is the joint second highest score by an Indian, shared with former skipper Sourav Ganguly, after Sachin Tendulkar's 186 against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999.

Dhoni, who broke the record for maximum sixes by an Indian, completely overshadowed a sterling 138-run knock by his Sri Lankan counterpart Kumar Sangakkara as India recorded a comfortable six-wicket victory, overhauling the target of 299 with 3.5 overs to spare.

Dhoni's score also equalled Ganguly's 183 which also came against Sri Lanka at Taunton during a World Cup match in 1999.

The 24-year-old Jharkhand batsman put on valuable partnerships with Virender Sehwag (38) and skipper Rahul Dravid (28) after the in-form Tendulkar was dismissed cheaply for two in the very first over.

Dhoni brought the winning runs in style, with a huge six off Tillekeratne Dilshan.

The Sri Lankans put up a much improved performance with the bat but their goodwork was undone by some unimaginative bowling on a batsman-friendly track. Champion spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was also rendered largely ineffective, although he emerged as the most successful bowler with figures of 2-46. The teams will now travel to Pune where the fourth one-day international will be played on Thursday.

Earlier, India were off to a disastrous start, losing Tendulkar in the very first over to Chaminda Vaas. Chasing a delivery outside the off-stump, the little master, who had slammed 93 and 67 not out in the matches at Nagpur and Mohali, ended up offering a catch to Sangakkara.

But Dhoni was in a belligerent mood, so much so that he even overshadowed Sehwag.

He picked speedster Fervez Maharoof for special treatment, hitting a six and two fours in the seventh over and three fours in the bowler's next over, prompting skipper Marvan Atapattu to pull him out ofthe attack after he had bowled just two overs, which cost a huge 27 runs.

Dhoni and Sehwag entertained the partisan 23,000 crowd with their aggressive strokeplay and put on 92 runs off 85 balls for the second wicket before the Delhi opener was trapped leg before by Vaas for 39 which came off 37 balls with the help of three fours.

But there was no stopping Dhoni, who littered the outfield with fours and sixes. He raced to his 50 off 40 balls with six fours and three sixes and put on 86 runs with new batsman Dravid who made 28 off 34 before being caught and bowled by Muralitharan,the scoreboard reading 185 for three.

Dhoni reached his 100 with an exquisite straight drive off Upul Chandana. He needed 85 balls to slam his second one-day international hundred, an effort studded with 10 fours and five sixes. The 24-year old then made Atapattu repent his decision to bring onMaharoof again, hitting the bowler for a six and a four to extract 14 runs from the paceman's over.

Dilshan received a similar welcome.

India's 200 came in only 29.1 overs, with the run rate hovering around six an over.

Earlier, Sangakkara joined forces with bridegroom-to-be Mahela Jayawardene (71) to put on a rollicking 151-run partnership for the third wicket off 141 balls after Atapattu won the toss and elected to bat.

Overcoming a shaky start that saw them being reduced to 77 for two, the left-handed Sangakkara andJayawardene helped their team hit the highest total scored ever at the ground and left India with a stiff asking rate of nearly six runs an over.

The 28-year-old Sangakkara, who slammed 13 fours and two sixes in his start to finish 147-ball knock, capped his superb show with a whirlwind unbeaten 50-run stand with Maharoof (33 off 16balls) at the death to take the score almost to the 300-run mark.

The Sri Lankans, smarting under two massive defeats on the trot in the seven-match series, appeared to have come into the match with agame plan as they started sedately, concentrated on grafting in the middle overs before opening up.

Dravid looked ill at ease for the first time in the series, his bowlers, he used seven of them, failing to contain the run flow.

The visitors suffered a setback in the sixth over when Sanath Jayasuriya, carrying a shoulder injury, played on to Ajit Agarkar for a run-a-ball 15.

Sangakkara and Atapattu then put on 46 runs for the second wicket before the captain fell for 17 scored off 49 balls with the help of one boundary. J.P. Yadav, who replaced Irfan Pathan from the West End, induced an inside edge and Dhoni made no mistake.

The introduction of Harbhajan Singh helped in tying down new batsman Jayawardene and Sangakkara further.

But after seeing off the initial overs by Harbhajan and left arm spinner Murali Kartik, Jayawardene, who is to get married in Colombo on Wednesday and would miss the Pune one-dayer, opened up to play some delightful strokes.

Jayawardene looked determined to make amends, racing to his 50 off just 54 balls with the help of seven fours.

Sangakkara, too, stood firm at one end and reached his 50 off 79 balls with five fours before he stepped on the accelerator, hitting a huge six off Kartik and another off Tendulkar over themid-wicket fence to race to his fourth one-day century and first against India in 123 balls with eight fours and two sixes.

Jayawardene fell to the part-time off-spin of Sehwag for 71 off 69 balls in the 44th over.

Maharoof did more than what was expected of him, hitting a unbeaten 33 off just 16 balls.

PTI