MIRPUR: India tonight stormed into the final of the Asia Cup Twenty20 cricket tournament with another comfortable five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka, riding on Virat Kohli’s unbeaten half-century.
It was their third successive victory, clinching a berth for the summit clash as they now stand on the cusp of their sixth continental championship trophy. The final is on March 6. In final league game, India to face United Arab Emirates on 3rd March.
After the bowlers restricted Sri Lanka to 138 for nine, the ‘Men In Blue’ overcame the early hiccups as they reached the target in 19.2 overs.
It might look close from the scoreboard but India always had control of the match. The ever-consistent Virat Kohli once again made a significant contribution with a 56 not out off 47 balls with seven fours.
But the innings of the
match was certainly played by Yuvraj Singh, who showed glimpses of his vintage self during a cameo of 35 from only 18 balls that had three sixes and two boundaries.
Yuvraj once again proved the old adage that class is permanent as he effortlessly shifted gears from the last match, where he just wanted to build a partnership with Kohli. Tonight, he came in at 70 for 3 with the team still needing another 69 runs. By the time, he was gone trying to hook Thisara Perera, he added 51 runs in 5.4 overs with Kohli and more so ended whatever little chances that Sri Lanka harboured in the match.
While Hardik Pandya (2) was fooled by an arm ball from Herath, a Mahendra Singh Dhoni straight six and a couple of boundaries from Kohli finished the proceedings.
India’s opening pair of Rohit Sharma (15) and Shikhar Dhawan (1) did not fire as Nuwan Kulasekara bowled an inspired first spell getting the deliveries to move both ways.
One such delivery that moved in after pitching (away going for left-hander) found Dhawan poking at it to give a catch to Chandimal behind the stumps.
Earlier, Indian bowlers once again put up an impressive performance by restricting Sri Lanka to a modest 138 for nine.PTI
score board
Sri Lanka innings
LD Chandimal† c †Dhoni b Nehra 4
TM Dilshan c Ashwin b Pandya 18
DSNFG Jayasuriya c †Dhoni b Bumrah 3
CK Kapugedera c Pandya b Bumrah 30
AD Mathews* b Pandya 18
TAM Siriwardana c Raina b Ashwin 22
MD Shanaka run out (Sharma/Ashwin) 1
NLTC Perera st †Dhoni b Ashwin 17
KMDN Kulasekara run out (Kohli/†Dhoni) 13
PVD Chameera not out 2
Extras 10
Total 138/9
India innings
S Dhawan c †Chandimal b Kulasekara 1
RG Sharma c Kapugedera b Kulasekara 15
V Kohli not out 56
SK Raina c Kulasekara b Shanaka 25
Yuvraj Singh c Kulasekara b Perera 35
HH Pandya b Herath 2
MS Dhoni*† not out 7
Extras 1
Total 142/5