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India, Sri Lanka share Champions Trophy

Faisal Shariff in Colombo

India and Sri Lanka were declared joint-winners of the ICC Champions Trophy after rain again forced the replayed final on Monday to abandoned.

India were 38 for one wicket in 8.4 overs in reply to Sri Lanka's 222 for seven when rains disrupted the final, which was replayed following Sunday's abandonment, also because of rain, when India were 14 without loss while chasing Sri Lanka's total of 244 for five.

The all Asian clash in the 12-team tournament was poised for an exciting finish before a steady drizzle, followed by thunder and lightning, forced the umpires to halt play and later called it off.

India, losing finalists in Nairobi two years ago, and Sri Lanka shared the trophy and the winner's purse of $300,000.

Sri Lanka innings

Earlier, a 118-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Mahela Jayawardene and Russell Arnold, and a dog who strayed on to the ground, enlivened the proceedings as Sri Lanka set India a target of 223 runs to win the coveted trophy.

It was a quite Monday afternoon at the Premadasa stadium for a 12-nation tournament final. Yesterday all of Colombo descended at the stadium; today the mood that appeared was of an inconsequential league match, with sparse crowds and a low level of interest.

Both sides made a single change in the teams that played yesterday. India dropped Javagal Srinath and brought back Anil Kumble -- a smart move, considering that the spinners caused maximum damage on the wicket on Sunday -- while Sri Lanka replaced P Gunaratne with Upul Chandana.

Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat first with a new opening combination, of Kumar Sangakarra and Sanath Jayasuriya.

Zaheer Khan struck with the first ball of the innings, bowling skipper Jayasuriya for a duck. The ball grazed the inner edge of the bat, ricocheted off the pad and crashed into the stumps.

Ajit Agarkar provided excellent support to Zaheer as Marvan Atapattu and Sangakarra laboured to find the runs.

Lanka lost their second wicket when Agarkar found the edge of Atapattu's bat and Dinesh Mongia took an exceptional catch diving on his wrong side.

Aravinda DeSilva walked into the middle and, in one scintillating over, upped the run-rate from 3 to 5 per over.

Agarkar, who had bowled with rare discipline until then, saw the ball cross the boundary ropes five times in the same over. DeSilva drove him through the covers off the first ball he bowled, glanced the next one down to the fine leg fence, pulled one that failed to rise as much as expected and ended Agarkar's agony with a brilliant four through mid-wicket.

India had bowled nine overs for 28 runs and two wickets. After the tenth over -- that cost 23 runs -- the score read 51 for 2 and India had lost the initiative, briefly.

But, in a moment of impetuosity, DeSilva tried to clear the fence and lofted Kumble high in the air. Kaif, at mid-wicket, completed the catch. DeSilva walked away with 27 runs against his name as Lanka slipped further to 63 for 3.

Eight runs later, a mix-up between Jayawardene and Sangakarra saw the latter get run-out for 26 as the hosts lost control of the proceedings. (77-4)

A lacklustre but crucial partnership between Jayawardene and Russell Arnold saw Lanka face a testing spell from the Indian spinners. The runs came in singles and twos as 75 runs came in the period between the 20th and the 40th overs. The partnership soon assumed threatening proportions, with skipper Ganguly continuing to attack with the part-time spinners instead of finishing the innings off by bringing on Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh together.

Jayawardene got his half-century off 79 balls as Lanka crossed the 150-run mark in the 40th over. The Arnold-Jayawardene combine registered a hundred-run partnership before Ganguly brought Zaheer back into the attack and saw his back for 77 as Lanka reached 189 for 5.

The boring proceedings were enlivened when Ganguly warned Arnold for running on the wicket. Tempers flared as umpire David Shepherd sought to diffuse the tension.

Earlier, in the afternoon, Ganguly had warned Aravinda DeSilva about the same only for DeSilva to display his shoe sole was without spikes.

Arnold coasted to his half-century at the fag end of the innings and then struck some useful blows for Lanka to reach a total of 222 for 7.

The 118-run partnership between Arnold and Jayawardene paved the way for a keen tussle as India chase 223 to win the trophy.

Harbhajan Singh was the pick of the bowlers with his off-cutters that the Lankans failed to get after. He finished his ten overs for 34 runs and a wicket.

India innings

India required 223 runs to return home triumphant. It had to contend with the Sri Lankan bowlers and more importantly the rain.

The fluttering flags across the ground indicated the approaching showers. The rain clouds slowly blacked out the reddish tint of the skies. The crowds had swelled; only the sound of thunder paled the drumbeats.

The shutterbugs clicked endlessly trying to capture the lightning as the anticipation of the rains overshadowed the actual run chase.

Yesterday the rains came in the third over, today the rain gods were more considerate. The second innings lasted 8.4 overs before the heavens opened and the raindrops got thicker and more regular.

In between, the Indian batsmen managed to lose a wicket -- that of opener Dinesh Mongia, who tried to pull Chaminda Vaas and merely managed to send the ball miles above the ground. Jayawardene, at mid-wicket, swallowed the ball.

Sachin Tendulkar, playing his 300th one-day match, walked out to bat at number three and after surviving a leg-before appeal against him flicked a four to get off the mark.

Virender Sehwag began his innings with his usual flair. Off the second ball he faced from Dilhara Fernando, he struck a four. Muthiah Muralitharan, attempting to chase the ball on the third man boundary, pulled his groin muscle and went off the field.

Umpires Steve Bucknor and David Shepherd abandoned play after the showers persisted.

As luck would have it, India and Sri Lanka had to share the trophy in what proved to be a rather anti-climatic finale to an absorbing event.

Graphical analysis of Sri Lanka's innings

Scoreboard