ASIA CUP FINAL: Men in Blue thrash Lankans

While the FIFA World Cup fever has clearly taken over headlines all over the world, it would be unfair if we ignore a historic moment for Team India in the world of cricket. Just when football fans were recovering from defending champions Italy’s shocking exit from Round 1 of the world cup, Indian cricket lovers were celebrating a sweet victory that brought smiles and a sigh of relief to everyone’s faces. It was a proud moment for MS Dhoni and his boys as India clinched the Asia Cup 2010 with a marginal win by 81 runs over Sri Lanka – a feat that was achieved after 15 long, awaited years. India won the Asia Cup last in the year 1995, under the captaincy of Mohammed Azharuddin. Also, this is the 5^th time India has lifted this prestigious cup.

The toss certainly was to play a crucial and deciding role in the proceedings of the grand finale. Fortunately for Team India, Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. Dinesh Karthik was impressive, with a fine knock off 66 runs, along with some support from Gambhir. Although, the absence of Sehwag was felt dearly, Karthik tried his best to hang in there, getting important runs on the board. He was then accompanied by youngster Virat Kohli, but Kohli’s stay at the crease was short-lived. Captain MS Dhoni along with Karthik established a decent partnership that was eventually broken by Sri Lankan spinner Kandamby. Later, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma kept the scoreboard ticking for the team. At one point though, it was possible for India to reach close to the 300-mark, but wickets fell at regular intervals, giving the upper hand to the Lankans. Sharma, once again played a fine innings of 41 runs, but was not lucky enough to convert it into something big. After his dismissal, Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja managed to bat for a while and ultimately fetched India a total of 268 runs at the end of 50 overs, at the loss of 6 wickets.

Nehra: ripped apart Sri Lankan middle order

Sri Lanka got off to a disastrous start losing T. Dilshan for a duck in the opening over, courtesy Praveen Kumar. Surprisingly, the Indian seam bowling attack looked just perfect, with the likes of Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan bowling with impeccable line and length. Within 16 overs, the Lankans had lost the cream of their batsmen. There was no way, not even the slightest of chance for them to get back into the game. Kandamby and Kapugedara certainly tried to halt India’s major victory, but the Men in Blue were in no mood and were on a complete rampage. The Lankans’ innings were wrapped up in just 45 overs, as they managed to score only 187 runs, losing all their wickets to the stupendous Indian bowling attack. Ashish Nehra was the most impressive among all, as he took 4 huge wickets, which changed the course of the game. India, thus won the grand Asia Cup with a huge margin of 81 runs, erasing Sri Lanka’s dream of pursuing a title Hat-trick.

Dinesh Karthik was adjudged “Man of the Match”, while Pakistani skipper Shahid Afridi was given the “Player of the Series” award for being the highest run scorer in the tournament.

Scorecard:

India Innings			R	B	4s	6s	SR
	Gautam Gambhir	run out (Upul Tharanga)	15	16	2	0	93.75
	Dinesh Karthik	c Jayawardene b Kandamby	66	84	9	0	78.57
	Virat Kohli	c Sangakkara b L Malinga	28	34	4	0	82.35
	MS Dhoni (C) (W)	c Kulasekara b T Kandamby	38	50	2	1	76.00
	Rohit Sharma	c F Maharoof b N Kulasekara	41	52	3	0	78.85
	Suresh Raina	lbw b Lasith Malinga	29	31	3	0	93.55
	Ravindra Jadeja	not out	25	27	1	0	92.59
	Harbhajan Singh	not out	7	7	0	0	100.00
	Praveen Kumar
	Zaheer Khan
	Ashish Nehra
	Extras	(b 2,lb 7,w 9, nb 1)	19
	Total	(6 wickets; 50.0 overs)	268	(5.36 runs per over)

Fall of Wickets (India) -

1. 38/1 (6.1 ov) Gautam Gambhir, 2. 100/2 (18.2 ov) Virat Kohli, 3. 146/3 (28.1 ov) Dinesh Karthik, 4. 167/4 (32.2 ov) MS Dhoni, 5. 217/5 (40.6 ov) Suresh Raina, 6.249/6 (47.2 ov) Rohit Sharma

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
Nuwan Kulasekara	9	0	44	1	4.89	(w 2)
Lasith Malinga	10	0	57	2	5.70	(nb 1 w 6)
Farveez Maharoof	6	0	41	0	6.83
Angelo Mathews	3	1	16	0	5.53
Muttiah Muralidaran	10	0	34	0	3.40
Thilina Kandamby	7	0	37	2	5.29
Tillakaratne Dilshan	5	0	30	0	6.00	(w 1)

Sri Lanka Innings			R	B	4s	6s	SR
	Upul Tharanga	b Zaheer Khan	16	30	1	0	53.33
	Tillakaratne Dilshan	c H Singh b P Kumar	0	2	0	0	0.00
	Kumar Sangakkara (C) (W)	c Z Khan b A Nehra	17	38	2	0	44.74
	Mahela Jayawardene	c MS Dhoni b A Nehra	11	19	1	0	57.89
	Angelo Mathews	c MS Dhoni b A Nehra	0	2	0	0	0.00
	Thilina Kandamby	run out (Suresh Raina)	31	45	2	0	68.89
	Chamara Kapugedara	not out	55	88	4	1	62.50
	Farveez Maharoof	c MS Dhoni b Z Khan	10	14	1	0	71.43
	Nuwan Kulasekara	st MS Dhoni b R Jadeja	20	16	4	0	125.00
	Lasith Malinga	c R Jadeja b A Nehra	7	11	1	0	63.64
	Muttiah Muralidaran	c MS Dhoni b R Jadeja	2	5	0	0	40.00
	Extras	(b 4,lb 3,w 9, nb 2)	18
	Total	(10 wickets; 44.4 overs)	187	(4.19 runs per over)

Fall of Wickets (Sri Lanka) -

1. 5/1 (0.5 ov) Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2. 31/2 (7.6 ov) Upul Tharanga, 3. 50/3 (13.3 ov) Mahela Jayawardene, 4. 50/4 (13.5 ov) Angelo Mathews, 5. 51/5 (15.4 ov) Kumar Sangakkara, 6. 104/6 (29.2 ov) Thilina Kandamby, 7. 132/7 (35.3 ov) Farveez Maharoof, 8. 168/8 (40.3 ov) Nuwan Kulasekara, 9. 177/9 (43.2 ov) Lasith Malinga,10. 187/10 (44.4 ov) Muttiah Muralidaran

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
Praveen Kumar	9	1	29	1	3.22	(w 2)
Zaheer Khan	8	2	36	2	4.50	(w 2)
Ashish Nehra	9	0	40	4	4.44	(w 3)
Harbhajan Singh	9	0	30	0	3.33	(w 1)
Virat Kohli	3	0	16	0	5.33	(nb 1)
Ravindra Jadeja	6.4	0	29	2	4.35	(nb 1

India beat Sri Lanka by 81 runs.