A 15-year-old title drought came to an end as India won the Asia Cup cricket tournament after crushing defending champions Sri Lanka by 81 runs in a lop-sided final on Thursday. Electing to bat first, India posted a competitive 268 for six and then defended the total without much hiccup with the seamers producing a scintillating performance, skittling out the hosts for 187 in 44.4 overs at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium. This was India's first Asia Cup triumph since Mohammad Azharuddin had led them to the title in Sharjah in 1995. On that occasion also, India had beaten Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the final.The Indian seam attack rose to the challenge when it mattered the most, accounting for the scalps of Tillakaratne Dilshan (0), Upul Tharanga (16), Mahela Jayawardene (11), Angelo Mathews (0) and captain Kumar Sangakkara (17) in just 16 overs. Sri Lanka never recovered from those telling blows. But for Kapugedera's unbeaten 55 of 88 balls, which was laced with four boundaries and a six, the match would have ended sooner. Nehra was the most successful Indian bowler with four for 40 while Zaheer Khan and Ravindra Jadeja taking two wickets apiece by conceding 36 and 29 runs respectively. Praveen Kumar chipped in with one wicket.
0 comments:
Post a Comment