Asia Cup 2010 update – Sri Lanka beat India by 7 wickets
Sri Lanka will go into the final of Asia with the upper hand having beaten India in the final group match convincingly by 7 wickets. The match that was effectively a dead rubber meant little in context of the tournament but was worth taking the bragging rights.
After a dismal performance by Pakistan against Sri Lanka and later India, both teams in actions today had already qualified for the final, which will take place on 24th of June.
Sri Lanka after winning the toss decided to test the Indian batting by sending them in first. Indians who were hardly under any pressure started brightly, Gautham Gambhir and Dinesh Karthik although cautious at the start began the innings with confidence. Gambhir in particular was quite solid at the start using the depth of his crease to good effect, against some good bowling. He chose the loose balls to pounce on. The openers took the score to 58 inside 12 overs.
Gambhir was the first to go; Randiv caught him on the bowling of Angelo Mathews after he had scored 23 from 31 balls, including 3 boundaries. One of the most promising young batsmen Virat Kohli could not make much of an impression at number 3. After putting on 27 runs with Karthik, he was sent back for 10 runs after being caught behind on the bowling of Maharoof.
Another man for the future Rohit Sharma came to the middle, but just after 2 more runs Karthik was shown the door after scoring a good 40 runs. He was also caught behind the stumps on the bowling of Herath. The left arm off spinner made a comeback in the team after a lay off. Karthik scored 6 boundaries. Sharma was then joined by Suresh Raina, the pair put on 43 for the 4th wicket before Raina was trapped in front of the stumps by Herath for his 2nd wicket of the day.
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni then came to the middle and started rebuilding the inning alongside Sharma; both right handers sized up the Lankan bowling and did not go for big shots at the start. A 79 run stand between the two did get India in a respectable position. However, as soon as Dhoni was removed, courtesy a suicidal run out, Indian innings lost its way. Dhoni scored 41 from 53 balls with the help of 6 boundaries.
Dhoni’s wicket was followed by a magnificent Hat trick by Maharoof, who cleaned up Jadeja on the first ball as he was trapped right in the middle of the stumps. Next in was Praveen Kumar who tried to cut one and chopped it onto his stumps. Maharoof was on the verge of a hat trick, with another fast bowler Zaheer Khan coming in next the hat trick was surely on. The very next ball, Sangakkara caught Khan behind the stumps after a fine nick as there were scenes of jubilation with Maharoof completing his hat trick.
Consequently, India were soon all out for only 209. Whereas, they were cruising steady at 189 for 4 before Dhoni was dismissed. Maharoof finished with 5 wickets for 42 runs.
In reply it was never going to be a testing target for the hosts. Tharanga and Dilshan started on the front foot, quickly getting to 38 in the 6th over before Dilshan was caught by Jadeja on the bowling of Zaheer Khan, for 24 runs. Dilshan smashed 4 boundaries and one six in his short innings. Next in was the Captain Sangakara and alongside Tharanga he put on 42 runs. Tharanga was caught behind after scoring 38 from 46 balls with 6 boundaries.
Sangakkara was then joined by Jayawardane and the two experienced men guided the team home before Sangakara was dismissed for 73 good runs. While Jayawerdene remained unbeaten for 53, Sri Lanka got home with more than 12 overs to spare and 7 wickets in hand.
Maharoof was the obvious choice for man of the match for his 5 wickets.
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