Sports

Asia Cup 2023: India book final berth decimating Sri Lanka

by Trans World Features | @twfindia 13 Sep 2023, 10:13 am

Colombo: The Indian cricket team sealed a berth in the final of Asia Cup 2023 defeating Sri Lanka by 41 runs in their second Super Four match here on Tuesday.

Kuldeep Yadav nailed the 13-match winning spree of Sri Lanka in ODIs with a 4-wicket haul, a day after scalping five wickets against Pakistan.

Chasing 214 was not an easy task for the hosts as spinners were getting spin and turning off the track. Jasprit Bumrah (2/30) and Mohammad Siraj (1/17) picked up three wickets to dent the top order of the hosts, and when Sadeera Samarawickrama (17) and Charith Asalanka (22) came in, they forged a 43 runs useful stand for the fourth wicket.

Kuldeep however destroyed Sri Lanka's dreams by breaking the stand. Ravindra Jadeja took charge and reduced Sri Lanka to 99/6, but Dimuth Wellalage (42 no off 46 balls 3x4s 1x6) and Dananjaya de Silva brought the chase on track with a vital 63 runs stand for the 7th wicket.

At that stage, Sri Lanka had their nose in front but De Silva was caught by Shubman Gill off Jadeja for a well-made 41 off 66 balls with five boundaries.

Wellalage hung in there, but others lost their wickets frequently. The pitch did not help the spinners as much as it was doing for Sri Lanka in the first innings, where their spinners hauled all 10 wickets.

Despite this, the Indian bowlers dug their feet in and attacked Sri Lankan batsmen and fielded exceedingly well. With this result, Bangladesh are out of the final dash.

Earlier, India started off the innings strongly, but were bowled out for 213 inside 50 overs, thanks to Sri Lankan spinners.

India seemed to post yet another gargantuan total as they did against Pakistan last evening, but Wellalage (5/40) changed things in Sri Lanka's favour.

He dismissed top three Indian batsmen Gill (19), Virat Kohli (3) and Rohit Sharma (53), and then prize wickets of KL Rahul (39) and Hardik Pandya (5). But Charith Aslanka sprung a surprise who complimented Wellalage with figures of 4/18 in 9 overs on a quick turner.

After Rohit and Gill stitched an 80-run partnership for the first wicket in 67 balls, Captain Dasun Shanaka took cognizance of turning balls and immediately lobbed the ball to Wellalage and Asalanka who delivered.

Ishan Kishan made 33 off 61 balls, before he was done in by Asalanka. Ravindra Jadeja (4), Jasprit Bumrah (5) and Kuldeep Yadav (0) did not contribute much and fell cheaply.

(Photo courtesy: Twitter/@BCCI)