Asia Cup 2008

India lose by 100 runs, Sri Lanka win Asia Cup

Sri Lanka has won the Asia Cup 2008. They outperformed India in all departments - Batting, bowling and fielding. Jayasuriya and Mendis will probably remember this night for the rest of their life as both came out and fought for their country when it was in trouble.

Ajantha Mendia is ‘Man of the Match’ for his 6 wickets today and ‘Player of the Tournament’ for his 17 wickets throughout the tournament.

Scorecard

Indian Innings Review

India have now lost 18 of their last 22 finals, won 2 and drawn 2.Dhoni will face a lot of questions when the team returns to India.

Ishant Sharma has been clean bowled and India lose the match by 100 runs.

Finally, Dhoni couldn’t handle it and gives a fine edge to Sangakkara, thanks to the wonderful bowling of Vaas. He is out for 49 and India almost losing this one as India falling at 160/9.

Mendis strikes again and takes 2 this time - Irfan Pathan and RP Singh. India almost giving away the match to the Lankans and are struggling at 154/8 after 32 overs. Can Dhoni do something is the question ?

Murali gets his way as Uthappa goes lbw for 20 as India in trouble at 135/6. Dhoni is the only known batsman left for India. Sri Lanka are on top.

The Indian innings is a bit of a drag right now as India have managed 127/5 after 25 overs. Mendis has been given rest after his 4th over and will surely strike back soon as Murali has taken his place. Required run rate is still under 6.

Sri Lanka are partying as Mendis takes another wicket of Rohit Sharma lbw for 3. India in a desperate situation at 97/5. India trying all possibilities of finding a solution.

Mendis strikes again as Raina is clean bowled. India in trouble as India are 93/4 in the 14th over.

Just when India was taking the game away from the Lankans, India first lose Sehwag who was playing at 60 to Mendis - stumped followed by new batsman Yuvrag - clean bowled. India are now 76/3 and Mendis has claimed his 13th Asia Cup wicket which is the highest in this tournament. The 10th over was most harmful for India as they lose 2 quick wickets to Mendis.

India reach 58/1 in 7.2 overs as Sehwag reaches his 50 of just 26 balls - Asia Cup’s fastest 50. Sehwag is firing and Sri Lanka are finding it hard to find a solution.

India were 36/1 after 5 overs, as both opening batsmen were trying to hit big shots in the initial overs. Gambhir went for 6, giving an easy catch to Dishan off Vaas’s bowling. They were also lucky as the ball missed stumbs on one occassion for Gambhir and Sangakka missed a catch from Sehwag. Both Raina and Sehwag will need to be sensible about this now.

India had a decent start with Sehwag and Gambhir playing to the best of their ability. Sehwag looks dangerous as he has been hitting each delivery hard. After 3 overs, India were 27 without loss as Sehwag hit Vaas for 4 cracking fours in the third over.

India have a reasonable target to achieve and they will need to make sure that they do not lose early wickets. Spinners will be favourable with current pitch condtions - India need to watch out for Murali. We’ll be back after a coffee break.

Sri Lanka Innings Review

Sri Lanka all out for 273 as Irfan Khan takes Muralitharan with a simple catch to Dhoni. Sri Lanka should be pleased with this outcome as they lost wickets early and more wickets after they lost Jayasuriya and Dilshan. Kulasekera did some decent batting towards the end but the star bowlers for India were Ishant Sharma and Sehwag - one taking the wickets and the other really giving no chances for the Lankns to score big.

RP Singh picks up another 2 wickets for India by taking Thushara lbw who was playing at 5 and Mendis who was playing at 8. Sri Lanka are at 264/9 and a practical target for them at this point would be 270.

More misery for Sri Lankans as they lose the wicket of Vaas who was playing at 19 runs. Sri Lanka are 236/7 as Thushara makes an entry. RP Singh finally gets his wicket. Thushara is a big hitter although he is not a known batsman.

Sri Lanka lost Dilshan to Irfan Pathan as Dhoni took a simple catch as they reach 213/6. No known batsmen remain at this point and Sri Lanka are in trouble.

They lost Jayasuriya who was playing an excellent innings and scored 125 of just 114 balls when Sri Lanka were 197/5. Sehwag did the trick and Ishant Sharma made no mistake to take the catch easily. Vaas has come in to give Dilshan company who reached his 50 from 68 balls. This will surely slow thing up.

Congrats to Jayasuriya who scored another 100 under extreme circumstances. Jayasuriya looked very strong and had earlier hit RP Singh for 26 in the 16th over with 3 sixes and 2 fours. Dilshan was giving him full support from the other end as they completed 100 runs partnership. Ojha, Rohit Sharma and Sehwag have done some decent bowling to control the scoreboard as Sri Lanka could not score a boundary in the almost 17 overs.

Chamara Silva had earlier come in and immediately walked out clean bowled by Ishant Sharma. Thanks to Ishant Sharma’s glorious bowling, Kapugedera had earlier given away his wicket with a simple catch to Suresh Raina. Jayasuriya also under pressure and might have to turn down his momentum as Sri Lanka cannot lose any further wickets and needs to build a partnership.

Jayasuriya had earlier turned on his boosters and had started hitting the Indian bowling all over the place. A six and several boundaries helped Sri Lanka reach 60/2 in 10.3 overs. Irfan Pathan had been brought in to bowl, hisfirst ball has been struck for four while his second ball saw Jayasuriya get away with a mis-hit ball, and third ball again struck for a four.

Sri Lanka were 34/2 after 7.2 overs when a few low scoring overs by RP Singh and Ishant Sharma had created pressure resulting in the Sri Lankan batsman trying to take risks. Sangakkara threw away his wicket to Ishant Sharma caught by Rohit Sharma. In fact, Rohit Sharma not only helped dismiss Sangakkara, he has also been saving runs on the field. India are on top at this point.

India had earlier won the toss today and asked Sri Lanka to bat as expected. India has been successfully chasing throughout the series and chose to field  accordingly.

Sri Lanka had lost their ace batsman during the 2nd over on account of a run out thanks to Raina - what a waste runouts are. Sri Lanka were 23/1 at the end of 24 overs with both batsmen Jayasuriya and Jayawardene looking in good form.

Tags: ajantha mendis, Asia Cup, dhoni, dilshan, final, India, irfan pathan, jayasuriya, Jayawardene, kapugedera, muralitharan, ojha, Raina, rohit sharma, rp singh, Sangakkara, sehwag, sri lanka