Kohli shines again as India reaches Asia Cup final
Virat Kohli continued his fine form with the bat, as he and Yuvraj Singh helped India to a comfortable 5-wicket win over Sri Lanka in Dhaka. Earlier, Indian bowlers restricted Sri Lanka to a modest total of 138 runs as Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah picked up two wickets each.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 138/9 in 20 overs (Chamara Kapugedera 30(32), Milinda Siriwardana 22(17) ; Hardik Pandya 2/26, Ravichandran Ashwin 2/26); India 139/5 in 19.2 overs (Virat Kohli 56(47), Yuvraj Singh 35(18))
The two finalists from the 2014 World T20 faced each other at Dhaka, in what was a crucial match for Sri Lanka. Lasith Malinga remained unavailable for Sri Lanka, as they fielded an unchanged side from their last match against Bangladesh. Rohit Sharma, on the other hand, recovered in time for this game, after having his toe crushed by a yorker from Mohammad Amir in the match against Pakistan. The only change for the Men in Blue was the return of Shikhar Dhawan into the opening slot, in place of Ajinkya Rahane.
Chasing a target of 139 on a tricky surface, India got off to a poor start once again, and this time it was Nuwan Kulasekara who did the early damage. Both the openers were back in the pavilion by the fourth over as Kulasekara managed to swing the ball both ways with his lovely seam presentation.
After bringing the ball into the left-hander Dhawan, Kulasekara angled one away from him, and Dhawan only managed to edge the ball to Dinesh Chandimal. Rohit Sharma also edged on behind the wicket to Chamara Kapugedera, but this time Kulasekara swung the ball away from the right-hander as Rohit attempted an ambitious drive away from his body.
At 16/2, India looked in a spot of bother, but like he did against Amir in the last game, Kohli stamped his class and took on Kulasekara in the sixth over dispatching him for a couple of amazing boundaries. That changed the momentum of the game once again, and also gave confidence to Suresh Raina, who started to look in good touch as well.
The duo added 54 runs to the scoreboard, before Raina was dismissed in the first delivery of Dasun Shanaka, in the 12th over. Yuvraj Singh came into bat, and the southpaw, who has not looked his old self since his return to the side, showed glimpses of what he is capable of when on song.
The Sri Lankan spinners struggled to grip the ball due to the dew, and to make matters worse for them Yuvraj was timing the ball brilliantly. He dismissed Herath for two consecutive sixes – one straight down the ground, and another over mid-wicket – and all of a sudden India were in cruise control of the game.
Sri Lanka's night went from bad to worse as Shehan Jayasuriya dropped a catch of Yuvraj at 25 off Thisara Perera in the15th over just after the batsman had driven him over the cover boundary for a six.
The biggest positive from this match for India was the return to form of Yuvraj Singh. The stylish left-hander was once again timing the ball like he used to in his prime, and was walking about the crease with the swagger we associate with him. Eventually, he did miss-hit one ball, which was caught at fine leg by Kulasekara, off Perera. Hardik Pandya departed quickly as well, as his stumps was dislodged by Rangana Herath.
However, Kohli finished off the match with a four, as India reached the final of the Asia Cup with ease. Sri Lanka will now need to pray for a lot to go wrong for Pakistan and Bangladesh, in order to have any hope of making it through.
Earlier today, MS Dhoni won the toss and opted to field first, which has been a trend in this tournament due to the dew that settles on the ground late in the evening. Angelo Mathews and Dhoni gave contrasting pitch reports after the toss. While the Sri Lankan skipper felt that the surface “has a bit more grass than the previous match”, Dhoni insisted that there is “a bit less grass on this wicket”.
Dhoni, who had earlier opined that the matches have not been good preparation for the World T20 due to the pitches here, made a complete U-turn and stated, “Good preparation this tournament (for the World Cup). Fortunate to have so many games before the World T20”.
(Read what Javagal Srinath had to say on the pitches and his response to Dhoni )
Dinesh Chandimal made a fine start to the Sri Lankan innings with a delicious drive on the up through the off-side in the first ball from Ashish Nehra. However, Nehra and then Jasprit Bumrah found their groove quickly and did not give the batsman any room to free their arms.
Bumrah in particular showed great control of his line and length, and kept the batsmen guessing as he swung the ball both the ways. The 22-year-old gave away just one run in the second over, and that built up the pressure on the Sri Lankan opening pair.
Nehra reaped the benefit of that pressure in the third over as he dismissed Chandimal for just four. The batsman backed away and came down the track, and in his attempt to slog the ball, he only managed to edge it behind to the wicketkeeper.
Bumrah also got the wicket he deserved with a lovely out-swinger to the left-handed Shehan Jayasurya, who nicked it to Dhoni. Despite the clearly audible sound, surprisingly, Dhoni did not appeal for the catch, however, the umpire thankfully upheld Bumrah's polite “Howzat?”.
With Sri Lanka struggling at 15/2 at the end of the fourth over, everything was going according to Dhoni's plan. Tillakaratne Dilshan looked to move the scoreboard along with some quick singles, and was helped in his efforts by an overthrow from Raina, and a misfield by Dhawan at the fine leg boundary.
Just when it seemed like Dilshan was getting back in form, a change in bowling brought another wicket for India. Dhoni brought in Hardik Pandya into the attack, and the all-rounder dismissed Dilshan with a bouncer. The 39-year-old could not control his pull shot and was caught at fine leg by Ravichandran Ashwin.
The pitch in Dhaka has not provided too much assistant to the spinners so far in the tournament, however, Yuvraj and even Jadeja with his flat trajectory, were able to extract some turn today. After some initial struggle, Angelo Mathews began to warm up to his task though, and started to counter attack.
( Read about Shoaib Malik's response on Pakistan's tame loss to India )
He dispatched Jadeja straight over head, before pulling Pandya through the midwicket for a couple of boundaries in the 11th over. However, his luck ran out in the last delivery of the over, as he inside-edged the ball on to his stumps, giving Pandya his second wicket of the game.
Milinda Siriwardana gave Sri Lanka the much-needed impetus in the 13th over, when he hit Jadeja over his head for a six.
Siriwardana and Chamara Kapugedera formed a crucial partnership of 43 runs, before the former was caught out at long-on in an attempt to clear the boundary off Ashwin. That wicket opened up the floodgates once again, with Dasun Shanaka running himself out off a free-hit, and then Kapugedera picking out Bumrah at the cover boundary after timing the ball a bit too well than he needed to. At 105/7 in the 18th over, Sri Lanka were looking down the barrel.
However, Thisara Perera played a wonderful cameo of 17 runs, off just six balls, to provided some momentum towards the end of the Sri Lankan innings. The southpaw was unlucky to be stumped out by Dhoni off Ashwin, but the replay showed that he had made it back into the crease. In the end, Nuwan Kulasekara and Dushmantha Chameera took the score to 138, which appeared a fighting total on this pitch.
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