In the fourth match of the Asia Cup 2023 Super Fours stage, India defeated Sri Lanka by 41 runs at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
India won the toss and opted to bat first. The Men in Blue got off to another powerful start, with both openers scoring decent runs. While Rohit Sharma (53) scored another fifty, Shubman Gill (19) batted throughout the powerplay and built an 80-run partnership with the skipper. Post that, the side lost too many wickets in quick succession, which put India in a tough situation. Ishan Kishan (33) and KL Rahul (39) then took the proceedings forward, but not for too long. Wickets kept falling, which heavily restricted Team India. Towards the end, Axar Patel (26) added a vital few runs, which took India to 213 runs.
In the chase, no SL batter really scored big, which could have helped them achieve the target. The side only managed to reach 172 runs courtesy of Dunith Wellalage’s (42) and Dhananjaya de Silva’s (41) knock. Charith Asalanka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, and Kusal Mendis also tried their best but it just wasn’t enough.
Kuldeep Yadav once again proved his brilliance and picked up four vital wickets. Two wickets each were also grabbed by Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah, while one wicket each was taken by Mohammed Siraj and Hardik Pandya.
For SL, Dunith Wellalage was the star of the evening as he scalped a fifer. The superstar, who already has some great batters in his pocket, got rid of the likes of Sharma, Gill and Virat Kohli. Charith Asalanka also got four wickets, while Maheesh Theekshana managed to get one as well.
Dunith Wellalage was awarded Player of the Match for his brilliant fifer. With this win, India have qualified for the finals.
Scorecard:
India: 213/10, Overs 49.1, Rohit Sharma 53, Dunith Wellalage 5/40
Sri Lanka: 172/10, Overs 41.3, Dunith Wellalage 42*, Kuldeep Yadav 4/43