India crash to Murali and Mendis in cricket one dayer

Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan shared six wickets as Sri Lanka shot India out for 146 in the first one-day international on Monday.

Spin sensation Mendis finished with 3-21 and off-spinner Muralitharan with 3-37 to ensure India remained under pressure throughout their innings after making a disappointing start.

Mendis grabbed two key wickets in his opening spell when he removed hard-hitting batsmen Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, while Muralitharan made short work of India's lower order.

The tourists suffered a setback even before the first ball had been bowled as in-form opener Virender Sehwag was ruled out of the match due to an ankle injury, sustained during a practice session on Sunday evening.

The middle-order batsman started aggressively against Mendis as he lofted the bowler over long-on for a six before being dismissed in the same over, bowled off an inside-edge while attempting to defend.

Skipper Dhoni (six) was caught by Jayawardene at lone slip while trying to cut Mendis to leave his team wobbling at 87-6.

India and Sri Lanka will play five one-day internationals, with the first two matches to be held here and the remaining three in Colombo.

Scoreboard

India:

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Gambhir), 2-23 (Kohli), 3-36 (Raina), 4-73 (Yuvraj), 5-75 (Sharma), 6-87 (Dhoni), 7-87 (Pathan), 8-107 (Zaheer), 9-117 (Harbhajan), 10-146 (Patel).

Overs: 46

Toss: India

Umpires: Billy Doctrove (WIS) and Asoka de Silva (SRI)

TV umpire: Gamini Silva (SRI)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)