Colombo: Sept 12.India qualified for the final by defeating Sri Lanka by 41 runs in the Super Four stage match in the Asia Cup. India in the important match of the Asia Cup. Despite a brilliant performance by young Sri Lankan spinner Velalgay, they made it to the finals of the tournament with an easy 41-run victory.
In the match played at the Premadasa Cricket Stadium in Colombo, the Indian team batted first and scored 213 runs in the last over.
India started the innings well but suffered their first loss for 80 runs.
India’s first wicket fell on 80, second 90 and third wicket 91 runs when Shibman Gill 19, Virat Kohli 3 and Rohit Sharma got out for 53 runs.
These three players were dismissed by Donath Velalage and Udaan broke the Indian batsmen’s tally.
This was followed by a 63-run partnership between KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan that held India’s batting line.
However, on a total of 154, Velalage caught KL Rahul off his own ball and dismissed him. He scored 39 runs.
Charith Asalanka then ended Ishan Kishan’s innings with 33 runs for a total of 170.
Sri Lankan spinners did not give Indian batsmen a chance to play openly. Velalage completed his 5-wicket haul in the innings by dismissing Hardik Pandya for 172 for 5 runs.
Charith Asalanka dismissed Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav back-to-back for a total of 186, shattering India’s dream of a big total.
The match was stopped due to rain, but when the match started again, Axar Patel fought the Sri Lankan bowlers with 26 runs.
Sri Lanka’s chase of the target was disappointing with their first 3 wickets falling for 25 runs. Patham Nissanka scored 6 runs, Kaushal Mendes scored 15 runs and Dimuth Karunaratne returned to the pavilion with 2 runs.
Sudira Samarat Vikrama was dismissed for 17 runs and Charith Asalanka for 22 runs while captain Dasan Shanaka returned to the pavilion with 9 runs. Thus the Sri Lankan team lost 6 wickets for 99 runs.
Dhananjaya de Silva played an innings of 41 runs to give the team hope of victory, but he too was dismissed for 162.
The match had reached an interesting situation when India took the last three wickets by just one run to end Sri Lanka’s innings at 172. Sri Lankan batsman Velalage remained unbeaten on 42 runs.
For India, Kuldeep Yadav guided 4 players to the pavilion, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja got two each while Mohammad Siraj and Hadik Pandya got one out each.
It should be noted that India won the toss and decided to bat first against Sri Lanka. All the Indian wickets from Sri Lanka were taken by the spinners and this was the first time that the entire Indian team was dismissed by the spinners.
In the Asia Cup, the Indian team was targeted by Pakistan’s fast bowlers in their first match where Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah took all the wickets.
Sri Lanka’s young spinner Velalgay took the most 5 wickets and conceded 40 runs in his quota of 10 overs against India in the crucial Superfour match.
With the defeat of Sri Lanka, it has become easier for Pakistan to reach the final of the tournament and the match scheduled between the two teams on Thursday has become important.
