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 it 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.
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 sides 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.
Kuldeep Yadav Shine Among the India Pacers
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj both took two early wickets as Sri Lanka fell to 25 for 3 in the eighth over, beginning India’s march to win 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 defence of 214. Siraj removed Dimuth Karunaratne. As a result, Sri Lanka’s top order was completely dismantled by quality pace. 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, accumulating 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. He is 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.
IND vs. SL Highlights
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 only 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, fast racing between the wickets and the ability to exploit the holes 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 the partnership, Sri Lanka was 52 runs away from reaching the mark when Ravindra Jadeja took his second wicket and returned de Silva.
The match had now developed into a real 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 brilliant catch off the bowling of Hardik Pandya and sent him on his way to the pavilion. This firmly focused attention on Dunith Wellalage, who had already accomplished enough to earn the title of evening hero.
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