Asia Cup Final, Dambulla:
India 268-6 (50 ovs) bt Sri Lanka 187 (44.4 ovs) by 81 runs
Match scorecard
|
Dhoni has led India to four tournament victories in seven finals
|
India captured the Asia Cup for the first time since 1995 with an 81-run victory over defending champions Sri Lanka in the final in Dambulla.
Having opted to bat first, India were given a fine start by Dinesh Karthik, who struck nine fours in his 66.
Skipper Mahendra Dhoni hit two fours and a six in 38 and Rohit Sharma made 41 as they reached 268-6.
Sri Lanka lost Tillakaratne Dilshan for a second ball duck and Ashish Nehra took 4-40 as they were all out for 187.
It was India's fifth Asian Cup title, taking them above the Sri Lankans as the most successful team in the history of the event, which was first staged in the United Arab Emirates in 1984.
Sri Lanka had won three of the most recent four competitions and beat India by seven wickets in the round-robin match between the teams on Tuesday.
But India's openers began well, maintaining a run-rate of six an over before Gautam Gambhir was run out for 15 attempting a quick third run.
Karthik appeared certain to help India to a mammoth total with his powerful strokeplay, but attempted one big shot too many off the bowling of spinner Thilina Kandamby and lobbed a simple catch to Mahela Jayawardene at deep square leg.
|
606: DEBATE
CricketBuster
|
Dhoni hit Farveez Maharoof for a huge six before being caught at backward point in the 33rd over, but Sharma and Suresh Raina shared a stand of 50 inside nine overs to set Sri Lanka a tough target.
After Dilshan completely mis-timed a pull and was easily caught at mid-on from only his second delivery, Sri Lanka continued to lose important batsmen at regular intervals.
Upul Tharanga played no shot at a delivery from left-armer Zaheer Khan that cut back in to uproot the off-stump in the eighth over and Nehra then struck twice in three balls, claiming the key wicket of Jayawardene with one that rose and took the edge, followed by Angelo Mathews who edged a wide one.
Skipper Kumar Sangakkara was the fifth wicket to fall two overs later when he was another to mis-hit a pull, looping a simple catch to mid-on to give Nehra a third wicket.
Chamara Kapugedera struck his seventh ODI half century but was left stranded on 55 as Sri Lanka were dismissed in the 45th over.
generic viagra online | online pharmacy without prescription
No comments:
Post a Comment