Riding on captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill’s 80-run stand and a fiery spell from Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj up front, India broke Sri Lanka’s 13-match unbeaten streak with a convincing 41-run win. The win meant it had one foot in Sunday’s Asia Cup final, with two games remaining in the Super Four stage.
With a dry surface in offing, adjacent to the one used for India’s clash versus Pakistan that turned out to be a two-day affair, both the teams had packed their line-ups with spinners. Shardul Thakur was thus replaced with Axar Patel in India’s team. Axar did help India cross the 200-run mark with sensible batting towards the end but had it not been for Rohit’s charge in the Powerplay, India could have struggled to get anywhere near the total it received.
India thrash Pakistan
India cruised to a record 228-run win over rival Pakistan on Monday and collected crucial points in the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup. Having set a target of 357, India bowled out Pakistan for 128 runs, its third-lowest total against India. It was India’s biggest margin of victory - by runs - over its neighbour.
After bad weather halted play on Sunday, the game extended to the reserve day and threatened to end in no result after several more rain interruptions but India’s bowlers did well to bowl out the opposition in 32 overs.
Kuldeep Yadav finished with a five-wicket haul as Pakistan struggled against the left-arm wrist spinner. As well as taking five wickets, his eight overs cost only 25 runs. Virat Kohli and K L Rahul put on an unbroken 233 for the third wicket off 194 balls, India’s highest partnership for any wicket in the Asia Cup.
Lanka overcome Bangladesh by 21 runs
A sparkling 93 by Sadeera Samarawickrama that preceded a spirited bowling effort helped Sri Lanka overcome Bangladesh by 21 runs in their Asia Cup Super-4 match on Saturday. Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka (3/28), spinner Maheesh Theekshana (3/69) and Matheesha Pathirana (3/58) helped the country to bundle out Bangladesh for 236, after posting 257/9. The visitors offered a hard fight through Towhid Hridoy (82 off 97 balls) but it was not sufficient to overcome Lanka total.
Pak score over Bangladesh
Pakistan scored a 7-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the Super Four clash of the Asia Cup on Wednesday at Lahore as Haris Rauf bowled a couple of hostile spells while Imam-ul-Haq struck a silken 78. Rauf (6-0-19-4) proved to be too quick for the Bangladeshi batters, who were also troubled relentlessly by pacer Naseem Shah (5.4-0-34-3) after Shakib-AlHasan opted to bat.
Bangladesh were eventually bundled out for a paltry 193 in just 38.4 overs, despite a 100-run stand and twin half-centuries by Shakib (53 off 57 balls) and former captain Mushfiqur Rahim (64 off 87 balls).
