Asia Cup Cup 2010 Final: India vs. Sri Lanka
Asian cricketing giants, India and Sri Lanka are up against each other in the play-off of the 10th Asia Cup at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Rangiri, Sri Lanka. Dhoni, after winning the toss, as expected, decided to bat first. Dhoni’s side tried its best to break the spell of the Lankan tigers who, since 2000, have won eight out of total nine finals played between the very two teams.
India opened with the same opening duo of Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Karthik, which led India in Tuesday’s game. Dinesh Karthik chucked out his habit of squandering good starts, piling up his second ODI fifty in the last 12 games. Karthik came up with some lovely knocks through the covers, mauling the medium-pacers through the on-side, heading his side in the right direction for a challenging total.
India’s first wicket fell at the score of 38 in the seventh over when Gautam Gambhir got lazy and was run out. Gambhir, after running for two, started the third run quite late. Tharanga, who was standing on square-leg, threw the ball to Kulasekara, who broke the stumps quite calmly. Gambhir’s dismissal wasted a good start of the men in blue. By then, Karthik had conceived 22 off 21, but then an inexperienced middle-order made his role quite crucial.
Karthik continued to play some lovely shots. It was vital for Karthik that the hat-trick man Farveez Maharoof should be refrained from settling in with his slight cutters, particularly after his remarkable performance in Tuesday’s match. In the eighth over Karthik mauled him for three fours through the covers, all of them beautifully played. The third boundary to Maharoof forced the Lankan skipper Sangakkara to place six fielders in the circle on the off side.
The experienced Lankan pacers Angelo Mathews and Nuwan Kulasekara pulled the visitors back conceding just five runs off 26 deliveries. Both the pacers bowled according to their field, perfect cutters without letting the batsmen get any pace to work with. Virat Kohli, the main problem for Sri Lanka found a way out in that spell, thrashing Mathews for two boundaries in the 14th over. Karthik joined, again with two scrumptious shots crossing the boundary line through the covers. After 15 overs, India was 82 for 1 with Karthik at 30.
On 46, Karthik offered a difficult chance to Maharoof, who dived to his right and tried to reach the ball but it could not stick. The hosts had a cause for concern when Murali failed to create any impression against the Indian batting line. Sangakkara gave the ball back to Lasith Malinga to get a breakthrough and as expected, Kohli was sent back to the pavilion. After Kohli’s dismissal, skipper MS Dhoni came in. They both put together an intimidating stand of 34 runs following a run-a-ball approach. Dhoni attacked the two fragile links on the day, smashing the man of Tuesday’s game Ferveez Maharoof with a magnificent six and the magical spinner Muralitharan by dancing down the wicket and beating him over the top.
India, having realized that a lower-order collapse made them lose against the hosts in the last match, seemed cognizant of the need to complete its 50 overs. Only 34 runs came out of the last 10 overs. Nuwan Kulasekara was the surprise man during the power play when he conceded only 11 runs off 2 overs sacking Rohit.
India has set a decent total of 268 for 6 for the defending champions. With the trio of Indian pacers, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar back in action, Sri Lanka has started the innings in a disastrous way. In the 15th over, half of the Sri Lankan team was back to the pavilion.
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