Twin hurricanes wreck Lanka

COLOMBO: They are different yet similar in their batting ways. One is a left-hander with a touch of class and the other a right-hander who has set his own rules in international cricket. Both can be equally breathtaking in their strokeplay.
But rarely have they come together to pummel the opposition as they did at the R Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday. For close to 28 overs, the Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh rhapsody left the Sri Lankans in a trance as 221 runs were scored in that period. The tempo was always at a crescendo once Yuvraj caressed a Nuwan Kulasekara delivery to the point boundary.
With the Lankan players playing ball by feeding him deliveries around the legside, it was all cannon-fodder for the Punjab dynamo, who collected 45 of his runs in the arc between square-leg and fine-leg.
Ferveez Maharoof was the biggest culprit, spraying four deliveries in an over down the leg side, that too with a short-fine leg. Yuvraj despatched each of those to the fence. In between, he made room for his trademark shots through the offside too. But on Tuesday they were fewer in number as he collected 82 runs from the on-side.
It didn't matter much as the pace of the Indian innings could have given a complex to an F1 car. The Lankan bowling powerplay was in tatters as 50 runs were scored from five with Yuvraj creaming 44 runs. Just imagine, Sehwag played second fiddle during that carnage, adding a mere three runs.
MS Dhoni pulled a tactical rabbit out the hat by going for the batting Powerplay no sooner than the Lankans had ended their five-over block. The Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene too was up to the challenge. He pressed in his best bowlers ��� Ajantha Mendis and Muthiah Muralitharan ��� into service. An interesting battle was on the cards. But with two run-hungry terriers at the crease, it didn't create much impact.
Yuvraj was reined in to a certain extent but not Sehwag. He had already started late, scoring his first boundaries in the ninth over. They came in a flurry too ��� three in succession off a Kulasekara over on either side of the wicket.
For somebody who has scant respect for spinners, Sehwag seemed to relish the bowling of Mendis and Muralitharan. The defining moment came when he rocked back to slice a Mendis 'carrom ball' to the point fence.
More was in store when he made a Muralitharan doosra look like an ordinary delivery by stepping back and whipping it inside out over mid-off. As many as 43 runs were scored in the batting Powerplay, with Sehwag raking 30 while Yuvraj had to be content with 11.
The Powerplays were over as both the batsmen were nearing their respective hundreds. The heat was also taking its toll. Yuvraj, who had carted Sanath Jayasuriya for a six over mid-wicket was the first to reach his 11th ODI hundred.