Buzz Up India desperate for big win to keep alive final hopes

Harare: With their chances of making the final hanging by a thread, a beleaguered India will have to win and win it big when they take on Sri Lanka in a do-or-die match in the cricket tri-series on Saturday.
Smarting from the ignominy of being beaten twice by Zimbabwe in the tournament - their first back-to-back defeats against the traditional minnows - Suresh Raina and his team-mates have their back against the wall with the prospect of an early exit looming large.
Given the scenario, India, who currently have just four points from just one win, have to beat the Lankans with a bonus point and hope that the outcome of Monday's Zimbabwe-Sri Lanka match also goes their way. A win and a bonus point will take India's tally to nine points, level with Zimbabwe.
Raina and his men would then hope that Zimbabwe spring another surprise and upstage the Lankans, who have five points, in the final league encounter. But all mathematical calculations hinge on an Indian win and they can take heart from the fact that they beat Tillakaratne Dilshan's men the first time around.
That win came on the back of some fantastic batting by Rohit Sharma, who struck a hundred, and Virat Kohli. The two rescued India from a wobbly start and guided them home.
But except for the two and to some extent Raina, India's batting has not been too impressive. The Zimbabweans thoroughly exposed batting frailties and though the Lankans also have a relatively inexperienced squad, they would look to exploit the known chink in India's armour.
The openers have been a letdown and Raina had no hesitation admitting that the failure of Murali Vijay and Dinesh Karthik has hurt the side. Rohit Sharma hit back-to-back centuries but it is unfair to expect him to bail out the side.
Lot would depend on Kohli and Raina as well, while Yusuf Pathan will also have to contribute, more so when the chips are down. India's bowling has been largely toothless and none from the attack has made much of an impact.
Umesh Yadav and Ashok Dinda have been inconsistent and though they have wickets to show, their economy rates are nothing to talk about. The Lankan have played just two matches so far and while they were clinical against Zimbabwe, they just couldn't accelerate at the right time against India.
But the team which comprises some new faces and some comeback men can still prove to be a quite a handful for India.

Netherlands announces squad for WCL Div 1

ICC World Cricket League Division 1 hosts Netherlands has announced its 15-man squad for the upcoming tournament which will be played from 1-10 July 2010.

Peter Borren will lead the side with Bastian Zuiderent named as his deputy. Along with the hosts, Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands and Scotland will also participate in the six-team event.

The full squad is as follows:

Peter Borren (captain), Mudassar Bukhari, Atse Buurman, Tom Cooper, Ryan ten Doeschate, Tom de Grooth, Mark Jonkman, Maurits Jonkman, Muhammad Kashif, Alexei Kervezee, Bradley Kruger, Pieter Seelaar, Nicolas Statham, Eric Szwarczynski Bastiaan Zuiderent.

Afridi sees role for Akhtar in ODI, T20 Internationals

Lahore: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi on Tuesday said that he saw a role for maverick fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar in the ODI and Twenty20 Internationals.
Afridi told reporters here that Akhtar had assured him he only wanted to focus on his cricket after a long lay-off from international cricket.
"We definitely see a role for Shoaib in ODIs and T20 cricket and we want to give him a chance in these formats of the game," Afridi said.
Afridi, appointed captain for the Asia Cup and full tour to England, however, did not make any mention of whether Akhtar would be considered for the six Tests in England.
Akhtar, 34, has not played for Pakistan since May last year due to disciplinary and fitness problems. He also underwent a knee surgery in England last year.
But he has made a good impact in domestic cricket in recent months and had also sought help form a spiritual bone healer for a nagging knee problem.
He has been named in a shortlist of 35 players but his final selection will be subject to his clearing a fitness test tomorrow.
Afridi said the players should now forget the recent controversies in Pakistan cricket and focus on the coming assignments.
"Whatever has been said in the recent past is now history and we now need to put everything behind us and play like a unit," he added.
The Pakistan cricket Board banned or fined seven players for misconduct and indiscipline in March after a probe into the team's poor show in Australia and into reports of infighting among the players.
Among the banned was former captain Shoaib Malik who has also been named in the shortlist of 35 players.
Afridi said he had no issues with Malik and wanted to see the team selected on merit.
Afridi said it was tough for him to be leading the side knowing there were no immediate chances of him getting a chance to captain the team at home.
"But for the time being we have to manage with our international cricket abroad and do our best to give good performances," Afridi said.

Confident India seek revenge against Zimbabwe

Back in their elements after the opening match debacle, a confident India will have a score to settle when they take on hosts Zimbabwe for the second time in the ongoing cricket tri-series here On Thursday.
Zimbabwe had spoiled Suresh Raina's captaincy debut when they inflicted a stunning six-wicket defeat on India in the tournament opener in Bulawayo but the visitors were quick to recover as they thumped Sri Lanka in their second outing to
bounce back.
At the halfway stage, all three teams have one win and a defeat against their names and India will go all out for a win tomorrow at the Harare Sports Club to put one foot in the June 9 final of the tournament.
For India, their batting has been the biggest strength so far as they posted 285 in the first match and chased down 242 with consummate ease in the second tie with 6.3 overs to spare.
Batting mainstay Rohit Sharma has been in the form of his life as he slammed consecutive centuries to anchor the Indian innings in both the matches. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and vice-captain Virat Kohli have also sizzled with the bat.
The team, however, has not been served well by its openers. Both Dinesh Karthik and Murali Vijay could not give starts that India is so used to when Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir open the innings.
Raina, on his part, looked in good nick in both the matches but the team is yet to get a big knock from the skipper.
The last time they met Zimbabwe, it was India's inexperienced pacers which let them down. But in the match against Sri Lanka, the young guns put up a better bowling performance with Ashok Dinda and Umesh Yadav looking better bowlers.
The spinners, however, have done a decent job with Amit Mishra and Ojha doing well and Ravindra Jadeja chipping in.
Zimbabwe, meanwhile, will require something extraordinary tomorrow to pull off a repeat performance against the mighty Indians.
Their high-flying campaign has already been brought down to earth by Sri Lanka last night when the hosts were skittled out for a paltry 118 in 24.5 overs in a rain-curtained match.
The Lankans led by skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan produced a blistering batting performance to chase down the target in just 15.2 over to inflict a massive nine-wicket defeat on the hosts.
Zimbabwe's batting scorecard wore contrasting looks in the last two matches. While against India, everybody chipped in with meaningful contributions, against Sri Lanka only three could reach double figures.
For the hosts, opener Hamilton Masakadza has done the bulk of scoring with scores like 46 and 62 respectively in their last two matches.
Other opener Brendon Taylor dazzled in the first match with a 81-run innings but managed just two against Sri Lanka and if Zimbabwe have to stun the Indians once again the openers will have to give them a flying start.
Among the bowlers, Chris Mpofu and Prosper Utseya were among the wickets against India but last night they failed completely as none of the bowlers could pick a single Lankan wicket.
Teams:
India: Suresh Raina (capt), Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Amit Mishra, Naman Ojha, Pragyan Ojha, Pankaj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, R Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav.

Zimbabwe: Elton Chigumbura (capt), Andy Blignaut, Chamu Chibhabha, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Greg Lamb, Hamilton Masakadza, Chris Mpofu, Ray Price, Ed Rainsford, Vusi Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor, Prosper Utseya.

Proteas target clean sweep against Windies

Roseau: South Africa enter the fifth and final One-Day International against West Indies on Thursday at Queen's Park Oval, with a victory and a third straight clean sweep on Caribbean soil clearly in mind.
The South Africans lead the series 4-0, following a 66-run victory, under the Duckworth-Lewis Method, in the first ODI two Saturdays ago at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua, where they also won the second ODI by 17 runs last Monday.
The Proteas then won the third ODI by 67 runs last Friday at Windsor Park in Dominica, where they also completed a seven-wicket victory last Sunday. Five years ago, South Africa swept a five-match rubber in the Caribbean, and when they hosted West Indies two years ago, they again nailed their opponents.
The South Africans have not lost to West Indies, since their hosts won the semifinal of the ICC Champions Trophy by six wickets with 36 balls to spare four Novembers ago.
The results may suggest differently, but the Proteas have hardly played at their ruthless best, and their captain Graeme Smith would like to finish strongly.
"We would love to win this last game," he said. "It may be difficult, since we have been playing back to back matches in sweltering heat, but I think the guys have handled themselves well in the conditions."
"We have not bowled and fielded as well as we would like, but we had a few days in between to regroup, and we will see what we want to do as a team."
Smith again emphasised that a clean sweep in the ODI series would help to condemn his side's failure in the preceding Twenty20 World Cup, which was staged in the Caribbean, to a bad, and distant memory, as well as help give the visitors some momentum going into a three-Test series over the next month.
"For us, the players that comprise the limited-overs squad, it would restore a lot of confidence in us, after we peformed so poorly in the T20 World Cup," he said.
Beleaguered West Indies have endured a tumultuous few days, following a fall-out between their captain Chris Gayle and Sulieman Benn. Gayle controversially sent Benn off the field, when the beanpole left-arm spinner refused to follow a strategic move during South Africa's successful run chase in the fourth ODI, having delivered just four overs out of his maximum allowance of 10.
West Indies coach Ottis Gibson was on compassionate leave on Sunday to attend his grandmother's funeral in Barbados. But he played down the incident after getting the details during an internal hearing, which resulted in Benn being fined 100 percent of his match fee for insubordination.
Gibson noted, however, that Gayle and Benn have been very good friends off the field, and he did not expect this to change in the future. "We saw, for the first time from Chris, a little bit of his frustration at somebody not showing the willingness to do what he was asked to do, and he made a decision at the time," he said.
"He obviously stands by his decision, and obviously I have to support him. He's the captain, and if the captain asks you to do something, you do it, and if it don't work, so be it."
Gibson remained confident that his side could rebound from the internal squabble, as well as the morass on the field to avoid the clean sweep. "(Losing is) tough. Because in those four defeats, and if you take the two Twenty20s into consideration, five of those games we had a realistic chance of winning. Hopefully, we can put ourselves in a winning position again on Thursday."
Gibson can take heart that West Indies have won five of their last six ODIs (one was a weather-affected no-result) at Queen's Park Oval, but South Africa have won their last three against West Indies here.
Squads
West Indies (from): Chris Gayle (capt), Dwayne Bravo, Sulieman Benn, Dave Bernard Jr, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Dale Richards, Darren Sammy, Jerome Taylor.
South Africa (from): Graeme Smith (capt), Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla, Loots Bosman, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, Abraham de Villiers, Jean-Paul Duminy, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Alviro Pietersen, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Roelof van der Merwe.

Sidebottom replaces injured Bresnan for second Test

London: Ryan Sidebottom has been named as a replacement for the injured Tim Bresnan in England's squad for the second Test against Bangladesh at Old Trafford.
Pace bowler Sidebottom, a key member of England's World Twenty20-winning campaign in the Caribbean last month, has not played Test cricket since the final match of four against South Africa in January.
The 32-year-old comes back into the fold as Bresnan suffered a stress fracture of his left foot during England's first-Test win over Bangladesh at Lord's.
Bresnan will undergo further assessment this week before a recovery time frame is established.
National selector Geoff Miller, said: "We can be very pleased with a number of aspects from the first Test at Lord's, resulting in a comprehensive win against Bangladesh. It's very unfortunate that Tim Bresnan will miss the second Test through injury, because his bowling benefited from five days of Test cricket at Lord's - and he would have been looking forward to getting more overs under his belt at Old Trafford."
"It does, however, provide Ryan Sidebottom with an opportunity to push for Test selection following his outstanding performances in the World Twenty20. The entire bowling unit will be better for the overs bowled during the first Test and looking to further build on this in Manchester."
England's 12-man squad to face Bangladesh in the second Test at Old Trafford:
Andrew Strauss (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Alastair Cook, Steven Finn, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Matthew Prior (wkt), Ajmal Shahzad, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott.

Buzz Up Dilshan leads Sri Lanka to crushing win over Zimbabwe

Bulawayo: Sri Lanka captain Tillekeratne Dilshan led his team to a crushing victory over Zimbabwe at Queens Sports Club on Tuesday in a tri-nations series that also involves India.
He scored 60 runs in 46 balls, including a six and seven fours, to add to the 61 he took from India on Sunday. It was his 18th half century in internationals.
Supported with a 40 from Upul Tharanga, the only Sri Lankan wicket to fall, the three batsmen necessary coasted to the mere 119 necessary for victory by nine wickets with only 15.2 overs required.
"All our bowlers did their job well and gave us the foundation we needed. We came out today 100 percent and were dominant from the start," Dilshan said.
Zimbabwe had laboured to 118 all out in their innings, with Hamilton Masakadza scoring a fighting 62 for the home side for whom extras was next with 13. Masakadza's 10 team-mates mustered just 43 runs between them.
Zimbabwe's new coach Alan Butcher has much to do in order to repair both batting technique and battered pride. They had looked so good against India, scoring 289-4 in their six-wicket win on Sunday, and they will be keen to refind that form.
Butcher said: "Frankly today we were rubbish." Asked what needed to be done he drew laughter by remarking "do better". He explained they had been looking to score 160-190 from the 27 overs in the game delayed by rain, but fell a long way short of that.
Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura said with the wicket on the slow side, Sri Lanka's spinner benefitted fully.
From 83-3 when there was some prospect of a decent total, the home team slumped in disarray to 92-8. One of those to fail was Andy Blignaut, who had waited five years to return to international cricket. He lasted two balls.
Sri Lanka's man of the match Suraj Randiv took 3-23, Jeevan Mendis 2-12 and Dilhara Fernando 2-24. All three teams in the series are now level as they move into the second half of the tournament at Harare, beginning with Zimbabwe against India on Thursday. They each have one win and one loss each.

India to miss Twenty20 cricket in Asian Games

India will not send cricket teams to the Asian Games in November, despite being a key driver in getting the sport included on the program in China.
Ratnakar Shetty, a top official with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, cited prior international commitments for India skipping the men's and women's Twenty20 cricket tournaments at the Games in Guangzhou, China, from Nov. 12-27.
Shetty said on Tuesday that the BCCI already had informed organizers in China.
Asia's other test-ranked nations _ Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh _ are likely to send cricket teams to the Games. A dozen other teams entered qualifying for three other spots in the tournament.
India will be hosting New Zealand for three tests and five one-day internationals in November.
The Olympic Council of Asia announced after its General Assembly meeting last year that cricket would be among five sports making a debut on the program for the 16th edition of the Games.
At the time, OCA president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah described India and Pakistan as "the drivers" for getting cricket included on the program for the first time and vowed that their best teams would enter.
Indian Olympic Association secretary general Randhir Singh, who is also secretary general of the Olympic Council of Asia, said he'd write to the Board of Control for Cricket in India expressing his disappointment and asking it to reconsider before the June 16 deadline for entries.
"I'm very, very disappointed. It really hurts because we were really keen to have cricket in this multi-discipline event," Randhir was quoted as saying by Press Trust of India. He said it was now up to the Asian Cricket Council to resolve matter.
"The ACC worked really hard to get cricket included in the Asian Games. So it is ACC's responsibility to take up the issue with the BCCI. It will be a big embarrassment for OCA if India, where cricket is (like) a religion, does not participate in the Asian Games," Randhir said.
"This is particularly sad because cricket is a major sport in our country and we expected medals from the Asian Games."
Randhir rejected the BCCI's stance that it already had a full calendar, saying the national cricket board was aware of the Asian Games dates.
"The Games dates were out four years ago, so it was not at wise on their part to back out at the last moment," he said.

Dhoni all set to lose number-one batting spot

Muralidaran to drop out of top 20 for first time in 14 years

Amla jumps to 12th position after producing man-of-the-match performances against the West Indies in Antigua

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is all set to lose his number-one spot in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after deciding to skip the triangular series in Zimbabwe which starts in Bulawayo on Friday.

A player loses half a per cent of his ratings points for every ODI missed. As such, Dhoni, who currently leads Michael Hussey by just eight ratings points, will slip behind the Australian when the player rankings are released at the end of the series in Zimbabwe.

Dhoni had regained the top spot from Hussey in February after the Australian scored 23 against New Zealand in the fourth ODI and didn't play in the fifth.

Dhoni will not be the only batsman to drop in the rankings. Sachin Tendulkar (fourth), Kumar Sangakkara (10th), Virender Sehwag (11th), Yuvraj Singh (14th), Gautam Gambhir (23rd) and Mahela Jayawardena (29th) are all likely to slip in the rankings after opting out of the series to be played between 28 May and 9 June.

However, the absence of these proven performers has given stand-in captains Tillekeratne Dilshan (13th) of Sri Lanka and India's Suresh Raina (16th) along with Virat Kohli (21st) outstanding opportunities to move up the table.

Same is the scenario in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers with Sri Lanka's iconic spinner Muttiah Muralidaran certain to drop out of the top 20 for the first time since March 1996.

Muralidaran, who will also miss the series in Zimbabwe, currently sits in 16th position and leads the pair of Saeed Ajmal of Pakistan and Dwayne Bravo of the West Indies by only six ratings points.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship table, India sits in second position on 122 ratings points while Sri Lanka is in sixth position, 14 points behind. Zimbabwe occupies 10th position, just two ahead of Ireland.

Meanwhile, South Africa batsman Hashim Amla has rocketed up the ladder after producing player-of-the-match performances in the first two ODIs against the West Indies in Antigua.

Amla scored 102 - his second ODI century - in the South Africa's 66-run victory and then followed up with 92 in his side's 17-run victory in the second game. As such, he was rewarded with a jump of 13 places to make him the fourth highest-ranked South Africa batsman after AB de Villiers (third), Jacques Kallis (seventh) and Graeme Smith (eighth) in 12th position.

Amla is now within 10 points of a place in the top 10, and a couple more solid performances in the remaining three ODIs could take him there.

De Villiers, who scored 102 and 41 in the two ODIs, has consolidated his third position and now sits on 800 ratings points - 19 behind Dhoni - while Kallis, who scored 85 in the second ODI, has swapped places with Smith.

In the bowlers' rankings, Dale Steyn has slipped two places to ninth but Dwayne Bravo and Morne Morkel are on a charge. Bravo has climbed three places to share 20th spot with Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal while Morkel has moved up 12 places to 39th position.

To see how future results might affect the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship table, check out the predictor function on the ICC website at http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/match_zone/odi_predictor.php.

Forthcoming matches:

West Indies v South Africa

28 May - Third ODI, Dominica

30 May - Fourth ODI, Dominica

3 June - Fifth ODI, Jamaica


Zimbabwe triangular series (Zimbabwe, India, Sri Lanka)

28 May - Zimbabwe v India, Bulawayo

30 May - India v Sri Lanka, Bulawayo

1 June - Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka, Bulawayo

3 June - Zimbabwe v India, Harare

5 June - India v Sri Lanka, Harare

7 June - Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka, Harare

9 June - Final, Harare

Tamim dazzles as Bangladesh run riot

LONDON (Reuters) - Tamim Iqbal launched an audacious assault on the England bowlers on Sunday during a glorious Bangladesh counter-attack on the fourth day of the first test at Lord's.
Tamim contributed 103 from 100 balls to a Bangladesh record first wicket partnership of 185 with Imrul Kayes (75) after his team had been asked to follow on.
Junaid Siddique and Jahurul Islam (46) consolidated with a composed third-wicket partnership of exactly 100 which enabled the visitors to reach 328 for five at the close, a lead of 105 with a day's play remaining.
England should still wrap up the match comfortably on Monday but Bangladesh have proved thoroughly worthy opponents five years after losing their only other test at Lord's by an innings and 261 runs within three days.
They have won just three of their previous 66 tests against weakened Zimbabwe and West Indies' sides and lost all six against England.
Tamim reached his century from 94 balls, the fastest in tests by any Bangladesh batsman and the quickest at Lord's since Indian Mohammad Azharuddin's 87-ball hundred in 1990.
He was particularly severe on off-spinner Graeme Swann, England's best bowler over the past two years, slog-sweeping two sixes and cover-driving a four from one over.
Inevitably with such an attacking approach, Tamim rode his luck, missing completely with several full-blooded drives. But much of his shot-making was of the highest class, including a spectacular pull off one leg to record a third consecutive boundary off Steven Finn.

THREADBARE ENGLAND
Kayes edged a James Anderson delivery between Swann's hands after scoring 30 and was stalled for 15 balls on 49 before sweeping a four to reach his first test half-century.
He continued to play with great determination, belying a test average of 13.81, while Siddique, the top-scorer in the first innings with 58, batted with similar application.
With Swann struggling for once to make an impact, England's four-man attack looked threadbare and Middlesex fast bowler Finn was again the pick.
He dismissed both openers in the space of 14 balls after failing to take the one wicket during Bangladesh's first innings in the morning session which would have given him five in an innings on his Lord's debut.
Instead, Anderson wrapped up the Bangladesh innings for 282 within the opening hour, clean-bowling two of his victims to finish with four for 78.
Anderson had to wait until near the end of the day for his next wicket, inducing Mohammad Ashraful (21) to nick a catch behind with the final ball of the first over with the second new ball. Tim Bresnan then bowled nightwatchman Shahadat Hossain for no score.

Sahara remains sponsor of Team India

Sahara Group on Monday bagged the sponsorship rights of the Indian cricket team with a bid of over Rs 3 crore per match.
Sahara is incidentally the existing sponsors who spent Rs 400 crore over a four-year period for team sponsorship.
Six firms had purchased the bid form from the Cricket Board after it published a tender notice calling for bids for the Indian men's team, women's team, India A squad and the under 19 squad, but only Bharti Airtel and Sahara sent the security deposit (Rs 50 crore).

Rohit hits second successive ton as India crush Lanka

Bulawayo: Rohit Sharma hammered his second successive ODI century as India crushed Sri Lanka by seven wickets in their second match to put their campaign back on track in the cricket tri-series. Chasing 243, India made a rather slow start and lost both their openers inside 10 overs before one-down Virat Kohli (82) and Rohit (101 not out) resurrected the innings to help India romp home with 6.3 overs to spare at the Queens Sports Club.
The tidy Indian howlers produced a disciplined effort to bundle out Sri Lanka for 242 after captain Suresh Raina had opted to field. Today's win also marked Raina's first victory as captain.
Coming together in the 10th over, Kohli and Rohit added 154 runs from 168 balls for the third wicket to take the game away from Sri Lanka. Rohit, who hit 114 against Zimbabwe in India's first match though for a lost cause, hit six fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 100-ball, his second ODI century in his 44th match. He got a superb support from Kohli whose 82 came from 92 balls with the help of four boundaries. After opening bowler Nuwan Kulasekara and Ajantha Mendis achieved early success by removing Murali Vijay (14) and Dinesh Karthik (18) respectively, the Sri Lankan bowlers were left high and dry with Kohli and Rohit stamping authority.
The duo initially dealt mostly in singles with occasional boundaries before opening up later on. They also did not allow the asking rate to jump over five. Rohit took 60 balls to reach his fifty which came of a single off Ajantha Mendis in the 28th over and Kohli reached his seventh half-century an over later with a single off Dilhara Fernando. Kohli, however, perished in the 38th over while trying to finish the game early.
He came down the track to play a lofted shot off a Suraj Randiv delivery only to hole out to long-on fielder Dilhara Fernando. When Kohli fell, India needed just 42 runs from more than 12 overs and Rohit ensured that they wrapped up the match without any hiccup.
Rohit took a four off Mendis in the 43rd over to reach his second successive ODI century while Raina hit the winning runs in the next over. India, who lost their opening match against Zimbabwe on Friday, play the hosts again in their next match on Thursday at Harare Sports Club.
Earlier, save for Angelo Mathews (75) and captain Tillakaratne Dilshan (61), the Lankan batsmen struggled for runs under tight Indian bowling after they were put into bat. The Lankan innings eventually folded for 242 in 49.5 overs with three of their batsmen running themselves out.
Except for rookie Umesh Yadav (1/61), all the Indian bowlers bowled tight spells with Ashok Dinda (2/44), Pragyan Ojha (2/44) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/49) taking two wickets apiece.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra was also economical, conceding 40 runs from his 10 overs though without taking a wicket. The Lankans were dealt an early blow when Upul Tharanga (1) became the first to get run out.
After hitting an Ashok Dinda delivery to the covers, Tharanga was left stranded when Virat Kohli, who initially fumbled in collecting the ball, threw it accurately at the Lankan's end while he was attempting a third run.
Thilan Samaraweera (19) didn't last long either and was stumped by Dinesh Karthik while trying to charge at a Pragyan Ojha delivery. Dilshan and Mathews then steadied the ship and put on 58 runs for the third wicket before the Sri Lankan skipper became the second Lankan batsmen to be run out.
Dilshan, whose 81-ball knock comprised four boundaries and a six, took off for a single after hitting Mishra to the square leg but rushed back after a couple of strides only to find himself short of ground as the bowler had dislodged the bails by then.
But Mathews held one end together with a gritty knock that included a couple of sixes and an equal number of fours. His prized wicket ultimately went to Umesh Yadav, who bowled him.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja bagged two late wickets in Chamara Kapugedera (20) and Chamara Silva (5) to make sure that the Lankan innings never took off. Thissara Perera's late 32-run cameo down the order did, however, help the Lankan to go past the 200 mark.

Injured Vinay ruled out of Zimbabwe tri-series

Bulawayo (Zimbabwe), May 30 (IANS) Indian speedster Vinay Kumar has been ruled out of the ongoing One-day International (ODI) tri-series here with a knee injury. He will be replaced by Abhimanyu Mithun.
Vinay, who made ODI debut against Zimbabwe Friday was replaced by spinner Pragyan Ojha in the Sunday's match against Sri Lanka.

Mithun will leave for Zimbabwe as soon as formalities are completed, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary N. Srinivasan said in a statement.