COLOMBO - Kuldeep Yadav once again spearheaded India’s bowl­ing attack with a four-fer and powered his side into the Asia Cup 2023 final with a 41-run victory over Sri Lanka. 

India’s 41-run victory marked the end of Sri Lanka’s 13-match winning streak while also boast­ing Pakistan’s chances to qualify for the Asia Cup 2023 final. Paki­stan and Sri Lanka, both with two points each in as many matches will now engage in a virtual semifinal on Thursday. If the all-important clash gets washed out then Sri Lanka will join India in the final of the Asia Cup 2023 due to a superior net run rate. 

In a low-scoring thriller on Tuesday, Sri Lanka were set to chase a modest 214-run target but the home side could manage 172 in reply despite a fighting knock by DunithWellalage. Sri Lanka had a deplorable start to their run chase as they lost 3-25 in the 8th over, courtesy of a dominating opening spell by In­dian pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. 

Sadeera Samarawickrama then put together a brief 43-run partnership with Dhananjaya de Silva (17) before falling to Yadav. Sri Lanka then lost two more wickets in quick succession and consequently slipped to 99/6 in 25.1 overs. Dhananjaya de Silva and DunithWellalage then put together a crucial 63-run part­nership to bring Sri Lanka back into the game. De Silva then threw away his wicket while charging on Ravindra Jadeja in the 38th over when Sri Lanka still needed 52 runs. 

Dhananjaya de Silva scored a sensible 41 off 66 balls, laced with five boundaries. Following his dismissal, Sri Lanka lost wick­ets at an alarming rate and were soon bundled out on 172 in the 42nd over. Wellalage made un­beaten 46-ball 42. Kuldeep Yadav clinched 4-43 while Bumrah and Jadeja claimed two wickets each. 

Opting to bat first, India could put a paltry 213 on the board before being bundled out in the final over despite their skipper Rohit Sharma’s half-century. In­dia got off to a flying start with an 80-run opening stand. Skip­per Sharma dominated the first-wicket partnership with Shub­man Gill, who was struggling to get going finally perished in the 12th over after a scratchy 19- run knock which came off 25 deliveries. 

Wellalage then turned the game on its head when he re­moved star batter Virat Kohli (3) and Rohit Sharma (53) in his successive overs as India slipped to 91/3. Following the slump, KL Rahul and in-form Ishan Kishan anchored the innings with a 63- run partnership before Wellal­age struck again. He dismissed Rahul caught and bowled to draw. Rahul scored a cautious 61-ball 33. 

Wellalagesoon got rid of Ishan Kishan (39) to leave India reel­ing at 170/5. All-rounder Axar Patel (26) and number 11 Mo­hammed Siraj (5*) then added a valuable 27 runs amid their 10th wicket partnership before the former mistimed one off Ma­heeshTheekshana on the first delivery of the final over. Wel­lalage clinched 5-40 and Charith Asalanka 4-18.