Internet Desk: It was a vintage Yuvraj Singh as he scored a strokeful 35 runs off only 18 balls to steer India to an emphatic 6 wickets win over Sri Lanka. Virat Kohli too continued his good form to notch up his first fifty in Asia Cup 2016. The dashing batsman scored 56 off 47 balls. The pair compiled a match winning partnership of 51 runs off only 34 balls to guide India to its third consecutive win in the tournament at Mirpur and make it the final on Sunday.
Yuvraj stole the show tonight at Sher e Bangla stadium with his effortless stroke play that had class written all over. In his 18 ball innings the southpaw had three hits to the fence and an equal number of sixes. Kohli scored a brilliant knock of 56 * off 47 balls that included seven boundaries. He hit the winning runs as well. Dhoni remained not out on 7 runs.
Chasing 139 runs to win, India did not have the greatest of starts as Kulasekara gave Sri Lanka an early breakthrough. He got Dhawan edge at a delivery outside his off stump. Kulasekara striked again in his second over as he got Rohit Sharma caught at slips by Kapugedera for 15 runs.
In came Virat Kohli , who played a match winning knock against Pakistan in the last match. Kohli was in the same positive frame of mind. He flicked Mathews off his hips to the boundary to score his first runs. Virat went from strength to strength as he thrashed a Chameera delivery with utter disdain to the fence.
Raina after looking a bit shaky slowly gained in confidence. Both Raina and Kohli brought the fifty partnerships in only 42 balls. Raina departed soon as he tried to hit Shanaka over the mid off , only to be caught by Kulasekara who almost latched on to it at the third attempt . India was 70/3 at that stage after 11.1 overs.
Yuvraj Singh showed his class as he slashed Shanaka over the point for his first boundary. The elegant southpaw hit Herath for consecutive sixes in the 12th over. The second one that he hit was a trademark Yuvraj shot written all over it. Yuvraj hit his third six, hitting over extra cover off Thisara Perera.
They combined to put up a partnership of 51 runs off only 34 balls .
Earlier Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and decided to bowl first. India made only change from the side that played against Pakistan. Shikhar Dhawan comes in for Rahane. Sri Lanka went unchanged though.
It was yet another display of disciplined bowling from Indian bowlers that restricted Sri Lanka for 138 runs in a round robin league match of the Asia Cup at Mirpur. Late strike from Thisara Perera who scored 17 runs off 6 balls and Nuwan Kulasekera 13 runs from 4 balls helped the island nation post a respectable total. There were useful contributions from Milinda Siriwardana (22) and Chamara Kapugedera (30) as well. Both Bumrah and Pandya were the successful bowlers for India picking two wickets each.
Nehra gave India the first breakthrough getting rid of Chandimal for just 4 runs. Bumrah who had a maiden in his first over, striked in his second getting Jayasuriya caught behind for 3 runs. Sri Lanka were 15/2. Pandya struck with his first ball , as he got Dilshan caught by Ashwin. Sri Lanka was in deep trouble at 31/3 after 6.1 overs.
Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews did show some positive intent as he went in after the Indian bowlers. The Sri Lankan captain hit a brilliant straight six off Yuvraj. Right when he looked to pull things back for Sri Lanka, Pandya striked. Mathews dragged a delivery outside the off stump on to his stumps only to see his wickets broken . Sri Lanka was 57/4 after 11 overs.
Milinda Siriwardana started to look dangerous as he hit Jadeja for a six and four off consecutive balls. Chamara Kapugedera too started to free his hand as both of them took the total to 100 runs from 16 overs . Ashwin saw the back of Siriwardana caught by Raina in the deep. He scored a quickfire 22 runs from 17 balls.
Pandya took a terrific catch to get rid of Kapugedera for 30 runs . Thisara Perera struck boundaries in consecutive balls off Bumrah. The left hunder hit a huge six off Ashwin .The off spinner striked back in the same over getting the fast bowler stumped for 17 runs.
Nuwan Kulasekera slashed his bat at every delivery towards the end. He collected boundaries of consecutive deliveries of Nehra in the last over. He ran himself out trying to snatch an extra run in the final ball thereby taking the total to 138 runs.
India play their last match against UAE before the all important final on April 06 .