Mirpur: India rode on fine knocks by Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh to defeat Sri Lanka by five wickets in their Asia Cup Twenty20 cricket match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here on Tuesday and enter the finals.

Coming in after the early fall of opener Shikhar Dhawan, Kohli anchored the innings with an unbeaten half-century as India overhauled the 139-run target with four balls to spare.

The Delhi lad remained not out on 56, with seven well-timed boundaries studding his 85-ball knock.

Yuvraj produced a power-packed innings, hitting 35 runs off 18 balls with three boundaries and an equal number of sixes.

India, who have won all the three matches they have played so far, thus assured themselves a spot in the final.

The men in blue are at the top of the five-team table with six points and even an unlikely defeat in the final group game against minniows United Arab Emirates will see them through to the summit clash.

Nuwan Kulasekara was the most successful among the Sri Lankan bowlers with figures of 2/21.

The Indian run chase was off to a rocky start with openers Dhawan and Rohit Sharma departing early.

But Kohli and Suresh Raina came together to bring the innings back on track. While Kohli was the more aggresive of the two, Raina gave him good support from the other end.

The duo batted patiently, finding the gaps for the occasional boundary to add 54 runs between them.

Raina, who scored 25 runs off 26 balls with two hits to the ropes, was dismissed by Dasun Shanaka when he miscued an attempted big hit. The left-hander was surprised by the extra bounce and offered an easy high catch for Kulasekara at mid-off.

Yuvraj strode in and proceeded to plunder the Lankan bowling with some powerful hits. The veteran left-hander carried India within sniffing distance of the target before a bouncer from Perera carried the top edge to Kulasekara at fine leg.

Hardik Pandya followed Yuvraj back to the pavilion in the next over, but by then India were well on the way to victory.

Fittingly, Kohli hit the winning runs with a boundary off left-arm spinner Rangana Herath.

Earlier, Sri Lanka produced a competitive total of 138/9 in their 20 overs.

For India, promising all-rounder Pandya (2/26), off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (2/26) and young pacer Jasprit Bumrah (2/27) took two wickets each.

Veteran pacer Ashish Nehra (1/22), who bowled an excellent opening spell, also got a wicket.

Chamara Kapugedera (30) was the highest scorer among the Sri Lankan batsmen.

Asked to bat first on a greenish pitch, the Sri Lankan batsmen never really managed to settle down and lost wickets at regular intervals.

Sri Lanka suffered an early setback when opener Dinesh Chandimal was caught behind off Nehra’s bowling while attempting a big hit.

Bumrah piled on the pressure in the next over with a superb delivery which Shehan Jayasuriya edged to Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps.

Dhoni’s decision to bring Pandya into the attack in place of Nehra brought immediate results as the all-rounder got rid of the dangerous Tillakaratne Dilshan with his very first ball.

Angelo Mathews seemed to be in good touch, hitting Pandya for a couple of boundaries. But the right-hander was undone by poor timimg when he got a thick inside edge onto the stumps.

Kapugedera and Milinda Siriwardana (22) tried to steady the innings with a 43-run partnership.

The duo handled the Indian bowling quite well, producing the occassional boundary as the Sri Lankans tried to come back into the game.

But the partnership came to an end when Siriwardana holed out Raina at long-on while trying to hit Ashwin out of the ground.

The Sri Lankans plunged into further trouble when Dasun Shanaka was run out off the last ball of the same over.

Thisara Perera (17) and Kulasekara (13 not out) then came up with a few bit hits in the closing stages of the innings to take their team to a competitive total.

(IANS)

Mirpur: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and opted to bowl against Sri Lanka in an Asia Cup Twenty20 cricket match at the Shere Bangla National Stadium here on Tuesday.

Teams:

Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal, Tilakaratne Dilshan, Shehan Jayasuriya, Angelo Mathews (Captain), Milinda Siriwardana, Dasun Shanaka, Chamara Kapugedera, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Rangana Herath, Dushmantha Chameera.

India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra.

(IANS)

Vishakapatnam: Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bamboozled the Sri Lankan batsmen in a mesmerising opening spell as India clinched the T20 series 2-1 with an authoritative nine-wicket victory in the third and final match, here on Sunday.

After bowling out the visitors for 82 in the series-decider with Ashwin finishing with astonishing figures of 4-1-8-4, the hosts cruised to the target in 13.5 overs. Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane were unbeaten on 46 and 22 respectively, as India finished on 84/1.

Earlier, Ashwin opened the attack for the hosts and took four wickets in a magical three-over opening spell to break the back of the Sri Lankan batting order. The off-spinner was unplayable as he returned his career-best figures in T20 cricket.

Sri Lanka could not even bat full 20 overs and were all out for their lowest total in Twenty20 cricket in 18 overs. Suresh Raina also shone on a helpful ACA-VDCA Stadium pitch by scalping two batsmen and giving away just six runs in his two overs.

Ppting to field, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni handed the new ball to Ashwin and he responded with two wickets in the first over of the match. Ashwin had Niroshan Dickwella (1) stumped when the batsman charged down the track but was completely beaten and the Indian captain had an easy stumping to do.

In the last ball of the over, Ashwin trapped Tillakaratne Dilshan (1) and when he retuned for his second over, he had Dinesh Chandimal caught by Hardik Pandya as the rival skipper tried to cut loose but miscued a shot. The Sri Lankan innings was in complete shambles losing their first three wickets with only 12 on the board.

In his third over, Ashwin got rid of debutant Asela Gun-aratne and soon the Lankans were gasping at 21/5 with left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra taking the fifth wicket.

Such was the dominance of the home bowlers that only six shots to the fence were played in seven overs. It was only in the eighth over that Sri Lanka found sixes through Dasun Shanaka (19), who whacked Yuvraj Singh twice.

SCOREBOARD

Sri Lanka: N. Dickwella st Dhoni b Ashwin 1, T. Dilshan lbw b Ashwin 1, D. Chandimal c Pandya b Ashwin 8, D. Gunaratne c Raina b Ashwin 4, T. Siriwardana b Nehra 4, D. Shanaka b Jadeja 19, S. Prasanna (run out) 9, T. Perera c Jadeja b Raina 12, S. Senanayake c Dhoni b Raina 8, D. Chameera (not out) 9, D. Fernando b Bumrah 1. Extras: (lb2, w3, nb1) 6. Total: (in 18 overs) 82.

FoW: 1-2, 2-3, 3-12, 4-20, 5-21, 6-48, 7-54, 8-72, 9-73.
Bowling: Ashwin 4-1-8-4, Nehra 2-0-17-1 (1w), Bumrah 3-0-10-1, Jadeja 4-1-11-1 (1w), Yuvraj 1-0-15-0 (1nb), Pandya 2-0-13-0 (1w), Raina 2-0-6-2.

India: R. Sharma lbw b Chameera 13, S. Dhawan (not out) 46, A. Rahane (not out) 22. Extras: (lb 3) 3. Total: (for 1 wkt, in 13.5 overs) 84
FoW: 1-29
Bowling: Senanayake 4-0-22-0, Fernando 2-0-7-0, Chameera 2-0-14-1, Prasanna 1-0-3-0, Siriwardana 1-0-9-0, Gunaratne 2.5-0-22-0, Dilshan 1-0-4-0

(IANS)

Ranchi: India produced an all-round performance to outclass Sri Lanka by 69 runs in the second T20 International at the Jharkhand International Stadium here on Friday to level the three-match series 1-1.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan (51 off 25) scored a quick-fire half century as India posted a challenging total of 196/6 in 20 overs.

In reply, the visitors could manage only 127/9 in 20 overs.

Ravichandran Ashwin (3-14), Jasprit Bumrah (2-17), Ravindra Jadeja (2-24), Ashish Nehra (2-26) were the pick of the bowlers for India.

India earlier lost the first match by five wickets.

Chasing a challenging target of 197, the visitors got off to a worst possible start losing experienced Tillakaratne Dilshan (0) in the first over itself off the bowling of Ashwin.

In the next over, Sri Lanka suffered another blow when Danushka Gunathilaka (2) was caught off an outside edge off the bowling of Ashish Nehra and the side was reduced to 3/2 in 1.1 overs.

Next up, some tight bowling by both Indian pacers and spinners saw the visitors lose wickets at regular intervals.

Seekkuge Prasanna (1) being out in the fourth over saw the team struggling at 16/3.

From there on skipper Chamara Kapugedera (32) and Dinesh Chandimal (31) held on to score some quick runs but in the 12th over, Jadeja produced the much needed breakthrough for the hosts to get Kapugedera out to thus put more pressure on Sri Lanka.

With wickets falling in clusters it became difficult for the middle and lower order batsmen to pile on the huge runs which were needed and eventually surrendered to the Indians.

Earlier on, put into bat, the home side got off to an explosive start with both openers Rohit Sharma (43) and Dhawan taking the initiative to go all out at the Lankan bowlers.

With good number of boundaries and sixes, the team scored 70 runs in the powerplay as Dhawan brought up his 50 in just 22 balls.

But in the final ball of seventh over, Dhawan, looking to help the ball over the wicket-keeper’s head off the bowling off Chameera, was cramped for room and the ball got to the glove of Dinesh Chandimal who accepted it gleefully. India were 75/1.

Incoming batsman Ajinkya Rahane (25) gave good support to Rohit as the duo scored at a good pace to bring up India’s 100 in the 11th over itself.

But as Rohit was looking to take on the bowlers, the visitors got the second breakthrough as Chameera clinched a stunning diving catch off his own bowling to reduce India to 122/2 in 13.1 overs.

Soon after the dismissal of Rohit, India received double blow when Rahane looking too pull it too early got the top edge and which lobbed straight to Tillakaratne Dilshan at cover point. India were 127/3 in 14.2 overs.

From there on two new batsmen Suresh Raina and Hardik Pandya took on the bowlers striking boundaries and sixes at regular intervals to take India score to a handsome total.

In the 19th over, Thisara Perera (3-33) got rid of Pandya, Raina and Yuvraj Singh in three consecutive balls to clinch a hat-trick.

(IANS)