Team India defeated Sri Lanka by 41 runs in the Super Four match to reach the final of the Asia Cup in Colombo on Tuesday. In a low scoring match, Men in Blue had set the target of 214 runs to win, but the hosts were eventually bundled out for 172 runs.
Dunith Wellalge’s all-round display
Chasing the target, Sri Lankan batsmen never looked confident against the might of the Indian bowling attack. Apart from Dunith Wellalge, who earlier wrecked the Indian batting line-up with a five-wicket haul, none of the Sri Lankan batsmen were able to stay at the crease for long. Showing his all round skills withboth bat and ball, Wellalge not only played a crucial role by dismissing India at a low score but also remained unbeated at 42 runs during Sri Lanka’s chase. For India, Kuldeep Yadav took 4 wickets for 43 runs to help India reach yet another Asia Cup final.
Earlier after winning the toss, Team India skipper Rohit Sharma decided to bat first. However, visitors were bowled out for a small total of 2013 runs . Sharma top scored for the team with 53 runs from 48 balls,
Wellalage and Asalanka ran through India’s batting line-up
The rest of the batsmen seemed to have no answer for left arm spinner Dulith Wellalage and off-spinner Charith Asalanka, as both spinners completely put the visitors on the back foot. While Wellalage took five wickets from his allotted 10 overs, which included one maiden, Asalanka took four wickets in his nine overs, which saw one maiden. Even as the former gave away 40 runs, the latter gave only 18 runs.
Pathetic batting display
Shubman Gill, who opened with Sharma, was looking solid at the start of the innings having involved in the 80 run opening partnership with his skipper. However, he too departed in the 12th over of the match, having scored 19 runs off the 25 balls. He was the first victim of Wellalage.
Former skipper Virat Kohli, whose blistering innings on Monday helped India to put huge total against Pakistan, was a massive disappointment this time. While he was out for just 3 runs, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja were also out cheaply for just 5 runs and 4 runs each. Axar Patel played a cameo knock of 26 runs from 36 balls in the end to put some respectability to India’s total.
Team India will now play the final with other qualifier on Sunday.