Jadeja, Sachin guide India to easy victory

Cuttack: Young Ravindra Jadeja, with his career-best bowling figures of 4/32, restricted Sri Lanka to 239 after the visitors went off to a flier and then, Sachin Tendulkar cracked a fluent unbeaten 96 as India spanked a hapless Sri Lanka by seven wickets in a low-scoring third One-Day International to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series here on Monday.

Chasing 240 for a win, Tendulkar played the sheet anchor as he ensured that India overhaul the Sri Lankan target comfortably with more than seven overs to spare at the jam-packed Barabati Stadium here.

Stand-in-captain Virender Sehwag contributed a breezy 28-ball 44 while Dinesh Karthik and Gautam Gambhir made unbeaten 36 and 32 respectively as India reached 242 for three in 42.4 overs.

Earlier, Man-of-the-Match Ravindra Jadeja turned the game over its head as India came back strongly in the second half of Sri Lankan innings to bundle them out for 239 in 44.2 overs after the visitors chose to bat.