India successfully defended 213 against Sri Lanka in a low-scoring thriller in Colombo to confirm their presence in the 2023 Asia Cup final.
India’s opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill broke through to the flyers, parrying a Sri Lankan attack from close range before the home spinners halted India’s momentum. They went from 80-0 in the 11th over to 91-3 in the 16th over, with 20-year-old left-arm spinner Danis Wellerage taking the wickets of Gill, Virat Kohli and Rohit in successive overs. After KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan steadied the ship, Welerage and part-time spinner Charith Asaranka took the remaining seven wickets to crush India for 213 in the last over of the innings.
While Asaranka finished with 4 wins and 18 losses in 9 overs, having picked up just one wicket in 78 international appearances across all formats, Wellaledge said it was only in favor of spinner Sri Lanka. He took his first five wickets in poor conditions. , but there were also occasional inconsistencies in jumps. Overall, the Sri Lankan spinners scored 10 wins and 127 runs in 38.1 overs (economy rate of 3.33 runs per over), while the spinners scored 127 runs in 11 overs with an economy rate of 3.33 runs per over. .
Rohit resisted the temptation to start with spin and was duly rewarded when Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj took three new-ball wickets between them. As the shine wore off, the Indian captain brought on the spinners and soon Sri Lanka were at 99 for six. Dhananjaya de Silva and Welaraju bounced back to score 63 for the seventh wicket before Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav finished the bat. Kuldeep finished with his 4 wins and 43 losses while Wellaledge finished a great match with his 42 wins and no losses.
India’s victory means they qualify for Sunday’s Asia Cup final. With today’s result, Bangladesh will not be able to advance to the final. India’s opponents on Sunday will be either Pakistan or Sri Lanka. Both teams currently have two points and will meet in Colombo on Thursday in the virtual knockout stage. If the match is abandoned, which is not just a possibility, Sri Lanka will qualify due to their superior net run rate.
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