The Indian batsmen chased down a tricky target with relative ease to emerge victorious by 5 wickets and march into the finals of the Asia Cup. Despite a promising start with the ball, Sri Lanka could not sustain the pressure as another classy innings from Virat Kohli thwarted their chances.
The bigger news was that Yuvraj Singh showed glimpses of his famed ability by finding the boundary with minimal effort. This will certainly ease the team management’s nerves as an in-form Yuvraj bolsters the lower-order.
Here is how the players fared:
SRI LANKA:
Dinesh Chandimal (1/10)
Looking to go over midwicket, got a thin inside edge on its way to the keeper. Sri Lanka were one down after Nehra struck early with his inswinging delivery. Chandimal failed to establish himself and was struggling from the very first ball itself. He could only score 4 off the 11 balls he faced and soon the Lankan's wickets started to fall in intervals. Dilshan was looking good at the other end, maybe Chandimal's support would have given the Lankan team a much-needed start.
Tillakaratne Dilshan (3/10)
Dilshan got the start, scored good 18 runs but gave away his wicket to new a bowler Pandya as he tried to pull a short ball to deep short leg. When Chandimal got out, Dilshan took the responsibility to the charge. He was striking well initially, but couldn't capitalise more.
Shehan Jayasuriya (1/10)
He was completely beaten by Bumrah's speed and late swing. His work was to get set first and support Dilshan after Chandimal's early dismissal. He walked back with just 3 runs in the pocket after playing 5 deliveries.
Chamara Kapugedera (7.5)
Kapugedera was the top-scorer in the Sri Lanka's innings. His run a ball knock provided strength in the middle order which was struggling badly. He was part of two crucial partnerships, first one with Angelo Mathews of 26 runs and then the second one with Milinda Siriwardana of 43 runs.
Angelo Mathews (5/10)
Mathews tried to stabilise things in the middle with Kapugedera but failed as Pandya clean bowled him after ball took a thick inside edge of the bat. He scored 18 runs.
Milinda Siriwardana (6/10)
Siriwardana was looking dangerous and was in a furious mood to strike every ball. He welcomed Ravindra Jadeja with a huge straight six. He was part of one important partnership with Kapugedera in the middle. His 22 runs added some value to the Lankan's total. He bowled one over in the match later where he gave away 13 runs.
Dasun Shanaka (7/10)
Another bowler to get first ball wicket in the match after Hardik Pandya. Surprisingly, he got to bowl only one over where he gave seven runs and picked one all important wicket of Suresh Raina.
Thisara Perera (7/10)
Perera knock of 17 runs came off just 6 deliveries. Those were much-needed runs, in the end, to take the team’s total to a respectable mark. He was expensive with the ball but he got Yuvraj Singh’s wicket, who took away game completely from Sri Lanka’s reach.
Nuwan Kulasekara (7.5)
He added 13 runs from the bat and sent both the Indian openers back to the pavilion in his first two overs. Definitely the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka. The two early blows provided the Lankan team some fight back spirit against the mighty Indian batting line-up.
Dushmantha Chameera (6/10)
He couldn't do much besides bowling a decent spell of four overs where he gave only 27 runs without picking any wickets.
Rangana Herath (5/10)
He got the wicket of Hardik Pandya, but it was too late for the Lankan team by then. He was quite expensive as he gave leaked runs at almost 8 runs per over.
INDIA:
Shikhar Dhawan (1/10)
Successive failures for Dhawan in Asia Cup now. He again failed to give India the start, leave that, he failed to start his own innings itself as he got out caught behind for one run off Kulasekara's seam delivery. His place is definitely in danger, India have Ajinkya Rahane on the bench and might try him in next match against the United Arab Emirates team.
Rohit Sharma (4/10)
Looked solid when he started. Didn't look like Dhawan’s early dismissal had affected him. He scored 15 off 14 before Kulasekara brought full stop to his innings.
Virat Kohli (9/10)
Another crunch situation, another brilliant batting performance. First in ODIs and now in T20s, he is proving himself in every chase. A superb fifty and another Man-of-the-Match award. Kohli was the star of the Indian batting with his 47-ball 56 runs. He was well supported by Suresh Raina and later Yuvraj Singh in the middle.
Suresh Raina (7/10)
Played a sober knock of 25 runs which he scored off 26 deliveries. After two early wickets, he partnered with Kohli to bring back India in the game.
Yuvraj Singh (8/10)
He killed all the hopes of the Sri Lankan team. What a quike-fire knock he played. Smashing 35 runs off just 18 deliveries, it looked like the old Yuvi was back. The innings definitely instilled some confidence in him which was needed ahead of the Asia Cup finals and upcoming WorldT20 tournament.
MS Dhoni (7/10)
Besides two catches behind the stumps, one stumping and one run-out, Dhoni smashed one huge six in his short innings before giving the strike to Virat Kohli to score the winning runs.
Hardik Pandya (7/10)
Pandya struck with the first ball. Opener Dilshan, who was looking good, tried to pull the bouncer and gave away an easy catch to the fine leg fielder. He maintained his line and length and also came back in his third over to get captain Angelo Mathews’ wicket after getting hit for two fours.
Ravindra Jadeja (2/10)
Jadeja had a pretty bad match as Sri Lanka's batsmen read him well. He was given only two overs where he gave 19 runs. But he did some very good fielding which makes him eligible for 2 points.
Ravichandran Ashwin (7.5/10)
Ashwin continues to impress. Smart bowling got him two wickets in the match. Especially the one stumping of Thisara Perera, who was looking dangerous and was smashing at a strike rate of 283.33. He saw him advancing and bowled a slower one outside off and Dhoni did the rest. In his spell of four overs, he gave only 26 runs.
Jasprit Bumrah (8/10)
What a deadly opening bowling pair he has formed with Ashish Nehra. He sent back the top-scorer of Lankan's innings, Kapugedera. Keeping accuracy and speed at par, Bumrah proved very effective for India again.
Ashish Nehra (8/10)
Nehra gave India the exact start which was needed. Chandimal returned back after Nehra's beautiful inswinging delivery took his bat's inside edge before going to the keeper’s gloves. He bowled an economical four-over spell where he gave only 23 runs with pocketing one important wicket. He set the rhythm of India's win with his first wicket.
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