Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Indian batsman Rohit Sharma during the final of the Asia Cup Cricket Championship at the National Stadium in Karachi, Pakistan, on Sunday, July 6. - AP
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP):
Sri Lanka beat India by 100 runs to successfully defend its Asia Cup title yesterday, with spinner Ajantha Mendis taking a record 6-13.
India, chasing 274 runs, were dismissed for 173 in 39.3 overs with Mendis often unplayable in his eight overs.
Sanath Jayasuriya had earlier smashed 125 - his 27th century in One-Day Internationals - after India won the toss and chose to bowl first.
With 27 centuries, Jayasuriya is now the second century-maker in One-Day Internationals behind India's Sachin Tendulkar, who has 42.
'Happy with performance'
"I am happy with the way we played," Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jaywardene said.
"A lot of people had talked about 300-plus totals in this tournament but we knew if we put 275-280 runs on the board it could be a good score for our spinners to defend."
Mendis' figures were the best ever in the nine Asia Cups, beating Pakistan's paceman Aqib Javed's 5-19 against India in 1995 at Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
The Indian batsmen were facing the 23-year-old Mendis for the first time in the tournament and had no answer to his masterful bowling.
Mendis came on in the 10th over after hard-hitting Virender Sehwag (60 off 36 balls) had pushed the score to 76-1.
"I needed a wicket as Virender was playing really well," Jaya-wardene said. "I took a gamble on Ajantha because he was the kind of a bowler who could bowl wicket to wicket and it paid off."
Mendis breaks through
Mendis broke through in his second delivery when Sehwag, who had hit 12 boundaries, misread a quick delivery and was stumped. An over later, Mendis clean bowled Yuvraj Singh (0) and Suresh Raina (16) with balls that skidded through the Indian left-handers before Rohit Sharma was trapped leg before wicket off a perfect off-spinner.
Mendis returned for his second spell and claimed the wickets of Irfan Patan (2) and R.P. Singh (0), before Chaminda Vaas (2-55) ended captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's innings - caught behind for 49.
"We thought 273 was chaseable but Mendis was a difficult bowler to pick and his bowling made the difference," Dhoni said. "Mendis bowled brilliantly and we didn't have clues. We couldn't pick up his deliveries."
Earlier, Jayasuriya smashed 125 off 114 balls before India bowled out Sri Lanka in 49.5 overs.
Jayasuriya's innings included nine fours and five sixes. The hard-hitting opener revived Sri Lanka's innings by adding 131 runs for the fifth wicket with Tillakaratne Dilshan, who scored 56.
