Indian team chase down 309 runs quite easily against the Sri Lankan’s to march into the Final of Asia Cup which will be played on 6th of July Sunday against the same opponents. Indian team never looked out of shorts chasing this formidable total set by the Sri Lanka as they went on to achieve the target quite easily in the 47th over with the loss of just four wickets.
There were times when India looked like getting into some sort of trouble, especially when they lost Suresh Raina (54 runs of 66 balls) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (67 runs of 62 balls) in quick succession. The two had put on 99 runs of just 92 balls together before S. Raina was run out going for the 100th.
However Yuvraj Singh (36 runs of 31 balls) and R.Sharma (22 runs of 28 balls) put on unbeaten 57 runs for the fifth wicket to guide India home with no further hiccups.
But it was the opening pair who set the tone for the middle order batsman to follow. Virendra Sehwag and G.Gambhir both went on to put 92 runs in just 70 balls for the first wicket before Sehwag falls in the 12th over trying to play improvise shot.
M.S.Dhoni promoted himself up the order at number four after the loss of both his openers and he played brilliantly expecially M.Muralitharan with quite confidance. He and Raina put on 99 runs for the 3rd wicket before S.Raina run out in trying to take the third run at fine leg.
Earlier Sri Lankan Captain M.Jayawardne won the toss and decided to bat first on flat wicket. With some good batting displayed by their middle order batsman they able to put a decent fighting total of 308/8 runs on the board.
Likes of C.Kapugedra (75 runs of 75 balls), C.Silva (50 runs of 56 balls), M.Jayawardne (50 runs of 63 balls) and S.Jayasurya (43 runs of 37 balls) amongst the runs during Sri Lankan innings.
From India I.Sharma was the most successfull bowler he picked up 2 wickets in his 10 overs by conceeding 55 runs while R.P.Singh, P.Kumar, P.Ojha and I.Pathan picked one wicket each.
M.S.Dhoni was declared Man of the Match for his brilliant knock of 67 runs of 62 balls.
