India team in a do-or-die encounter against the defending champion Sri Lanka at the Asia Cup cricket confirmed its final place with a 6-wicket victory on Thursday evening. With India’s victory, Pakistan is now out of the contention and its game against Bangladesh (July 4) is only trivial in the rest of the tournament.
Chasing a target of 309 for victory, Indian batsmen exhibited their brilliance as its top order fired at the finest and scored an easy 6-wicket win. Sri Lanka, who had already entered the final, faced its first defeat in the tournament and again bowlers of any team couldn’t manage to check the batsmen.
At the beginning of the Asia Cup, it was claimed that batting first on a flat surface is crucial taking the worn-out nature of wicket in the second half; however it seems that teams now have to change their game plan as chasing is becoming easier.
Coming back to India’s chasing task, both the openers Virender Sehwag (42 off 34) and Gautam Gambhir (68 off 61) posted a flying start to make their fans believe that the target was going to be achieved easily. The dismissal of in-form Sehwag couldn’t hinder the run rate as they kept on scoring near 8 runs per over.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (67 off 62) and Suresh Raina (54 off 66) sketched a 99-run stand for the third wicket which set the whole course for the rest to come. Yuvraj Singh (36*) and Rohit Sharma (22*) with an unbeaten 57-run stand for the 5th wicket finished the job for India.
Earlier batting first the Lankan had a rolling start as the old man Sanath Jayasuriya yet again led from the front with his knock of 43 off just 37 balls as Lankan cost the wicket of Sangakara (7) in the fourth over of the match. However, Captain Mahela Jayawardene (50 off 63 balls) and Chamara Kapugedera (75 off 78) set the pace of the innings. With another half-century from Chamara Silva (50 off 56 balls) and some valuable lower order contribution, the Lankan surpassed the 300 mark.
As far as Indian bowling is concerned, Ishant Sharma was the successful most with two wickets while RP Singh, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar and Pragyan Ojha claim one wicket each. Pathan proved to be the most expensive one conceding 80 runs in his 10-over spell. In the end it was yet again batsmen who rule the match.
Now, the final showdown is on Sunday (July 6) which will not only crown Asian champion, but also give the winning team immense confidence ahead of the Indo-Lanka series in Sri Lanka starting from July 23.
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