Srilanka hold on after top order collapse …

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat against India in the third One-Day International at Goa on Tuesday.

Zaheer Khan, returning to the side after missing the second ODI, made an immediate impact on the game as he dismissed both the openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga in his second over, leaving the hosts jolted at 5/2.

Sourav Ganguly took a stunner at square leg to get rid of Jayasuriya for two, while Zaheer trapped Tharanga in front of the stumps for one, making way for captain Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara to take early guard.

Zaheer added a third when he castled Kumar Sangakkara, centurion during the last game, for no score to leave the Lankans reeling at six for three.

The Sri Lankans, hit hard at the onset, consolidated with Marvan Atapattu and the skipper. Atapattu looked to have regained his elegance, and was in full flow, dispatching boundaries with feather touches.

Jayawardene was more composed of the two, curbing his flashy instincts to help the visitors amble towards 50 runs withough further hiccups after 15 overs.

Thirty two runs were further put on by the duo when Munaf Patel added insult to the Lankan injury, dismissing Marvan Atapattu who was threatening to seize the initiative back for the tourists. Sachin Tendulkar took a tumbling catch at square leg as the stylish batsman departed for 42 from 61 balls.

Harbhajan Singh added another in the next over as the Lankans further slumped to 91 for five; skipper Jayawardene making way, out leg before to the off-spinner for 30.

The start of play was delayed by half an hour due to a damp outfield.

After a shock defeat in the second One-Dayer in Rajkot, India are looking to bounce back with the series now virtually a best-of-three encounter. The first game was abandoned in Kolkata on Sunday.

India missed the services of Anil Kumble, S Sreesanth and Robin Uthappa for the game. Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh returned to the side. Irfan Pathan didn’t make the cut as he hadn’t recovered from his shoulder niggle.

Virender Sehwag was pipped to take opening guard for India alongside Sourav Ganguly in the absence of Uthappa.

For the visitors, fast bowler Dilhara Fernando returned in place of Lasith Malinga to mark the only change in the side from the one that played in Rajkot.