Kuldeep Yadav shines as India defends 213 and advances to the 2023 Asia Cup final vs Sri Lanka.

India overcame Sri Lanka by 41 runs in their Asia Cup Super 4 match, with Kuldeep Yadav taking four wickets as the team’s catalyst in Colombo on Tuesday. On a pitch that mostly favored spinners, India comfortably defended 213 thanks to two wickets each from Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.

On Tuesday, September 12, at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo, India overcame Sri Lanka to secure a spot in the 2023 Asia Cup final, twenty-four hours after a convincing victory over Pakistan.

Kuldeep Yadav, who had taken five wickets against Pakistan on Monday, was India’s outstanding bowler once more. He backed that up with four wickets against Sri Lanka, and together with Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja, he helped India win by 41 runs. The 13-game winning streak Sri Lanka had in one-day internationals came to an end with this setback.

Asia Cup 2023: Points Table

The general efforts of Dunith Wellalage were in vain. The 20-year-old took 5 for 40 wickets before scoring an unbeaten 42 off 46 deliveries to keep Sri Lanka in the game when he ran out of batting partners.

India overcame a busy schedule to win their second Super 4 match in a row at the Asia Cup. On Sunday, India and Pakistan began their encounter, but rain stopped play after 24.1 overs. On Monday, the Reserve Day, the two teams went back out to bat. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul both scored spectacular hundreds to help India set a target of 356 for 2 in 50 overs. Kuldeep Yadav then shone with a five-wicket haul to help India secure a 228-run victory.

India Pacers, Kuldeep Shine

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj each took two early wickets as Sri Lanka fell to 25 for 3 in the eighth over, beginning India’s march to victory despite losing all ten of its wickets to spinners for the first time in one-day internationals. Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis were both returned by Bumrah to give India a strong start to their defense of 214, while Siraj removed Dimuth Karunaratne. As a result, Sri Lanka’s top order was completely dismantled by quality pace, and the onus was now on Sadeera Samarawickrama and Charith Asalanka, who earlier in the evening had recorded his career-best ODI bowling figures.

After India’s pacers struck quickly, the Sri Lankan run chase was in trouble, but Samarawickrama and Asalanka calmed the innings with a steady partnership. The combination performed admirably against an aggressive Indian bowling attack, adding 43 runs for the fourth wicket without ever having to deal with the burden of a high run rate. Samarawickrama and Asalanka were dismissed in consecutive overs by Kuldeep Yadav, the best wicket-taker for India in ODIs this year and the player who dismantled the Pakistani batting order on Monday evening with a five-wicket haul. And with Sri Lanka reeling at 99 for 6, it was virtually game over when Ravindra Jadeja caught Dasun Shanaka.

Dunith Wellalage and Dhananjaya de Silva, though, weren’t quite ready to give up yet. The web that Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja had built around Sri Lanka would have required extra work to break. Dhananjaya de Silva has contributed a couple crucial hits for Sri Lanka during crucial moments, but the squad would have been most thrilled with Dunith Wellalage’s breakthrough as an all-arounder. He stitched a historic partnership for Sri Lanka just hours after taking five wickets, including notable victims Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Hardik Pandya.

Dunith Wellalage displayed a maturity that belied his age while Dhananjaya de Silva held one end up with a strong performance of defensive cricket, quick running between the wickets, and the ability to exploit the gaps in the field. Twenty-year-old Dunith Wellalage scored 63 runs alongside de Silva, smashing Kuldeep Yadav for a six, dodging a precise bouncer from Jasprit Bumrah, and hitting Ravindra Jadeja for a boundary. As a result of that stand, Sri Lanka was 52 runs away from reaching the mark when Ravindra Jadeja took his second wicket and returned de Silva.

IND vs SL, Super 4: Highlights

The match had now developed into a legitimate thriller. With only three wickets in hand, Sri Lanka only had 12 overs to score 52 runs. Axar Patel’s five unsuccessful overs, which had cost 29 runs, were not necessary for India. Maheesh Theekshana is not wholly without potential as a batsman, but he was unable to contribute much in a frantic chase; he only managed to score two runs off 14 balls before Suryakumar Yadav took a sharp catch off the bowling of Hardik Pandya and sent him on his way to the pavilion.When Kuldeep Yadav was summoned back for his final over, he struck quickly to get rid of Matheesha Pathirana and Kasun Rajitha to secure India’s victory and reach his personal milestone of 150 wickets.

Rohit Sharma, the captain of India, won the toss on Tuesday and elected to play on a wicket that would favor Sri Lanka’s spinners. Earlier opening partnerships between Rohit and Shubman Gill were noteworthy, and they carried on their impressive run in Colombo. Before Shubman Gill was bowled by Dunith Wellalage, who would go on to take five wickets, the partnership had put 80 runs on the board for the first wicket.

Unplayable Wellalage

In his first spell, Dunith Wellalage was practically unplayable; he later added the wickets of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. India went from 80 for no loss after 11 overs to 91 for 3 in the 16th over. Even though he attempted to hit a short-of-a-length delivery on the leg side, Kohli was once again outwitted by a left-arm spinner and was only able to offer a catch to Dasun Shanaka at short midwicket.

In the 2023 Asia Cup, Rohit Sharma sped to his third consecutive half-century and appeared to be the player who would lead India’s batting order on a challenging surface. The India captain has produced some incredible hits on challenging surfaces, but Tuesday’s match was a bust. Rohit was completely defeated by Wellalage’s quick turn, as the ball disturbed his leg-stump.

Ishan Kishan entered the field before KL Rahul to counter the left-arm spin danger of Wellalage. Prior to this match, he had struck four consecutive half-centuries in ODIs. Rahul continued against Pakistan where he left off, and his stunning hundred on his comeback to international cricket proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was capable of handling any role in the team. Rahul and Ishan shown the will to play with strong defense and a deft inclination to rotate the strike as the Sri Lankan spinners went about their business with a lot of discipline.

KL and Ishan Kishan In order to get India out of trouble, Rahul and the fourth wicket contributed 63 runs together. However, Wellalage was unstoppable on Tuesday as he removed Rahul by dismissing an easy return catch, which was happily accepted.

Then, Charith Asalanka’s occasional spin caused more problems for India; he claimed four wickets, two of which were crucial—those of Ishan Kishan and Ravindra Jadeja. When he dismissed Hardik Pandya with the penultimate delivery of his 10th over, Dunith Wellalage completed an ideal stint and finished with 5 for 40.

Axar Patel was removed by Maheesh Theekshana, who bowled India out for 213, after Charith Asalanka had shredded the Indian lower order for 4 for 18 off just 9 overs.

As the winner will join India in the tile match, Pakistan’s final Super 4 encounter against Sri Lanka on September 14 is now essentially a semifinal. Since India’s match against Bangladesh will be meaningless, Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid can decide to rotate a few bench players to gauge the depth of the squad.

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