‘IND vs PAK final loading’ – Fans over the moon as India advance to final of Asia Cup 2023, beat Sri Lanka in Super Fours thriller 

In a nail-biting Super Fours encounter, India beat Sri Lanka by 41 runs to advance to the finals of the 2023 Asia Cup. India were expected to register a comfortable win after their resounding win over Pakistan in the last match, but Sri Lanka gave a real scare till the final moments of the game. The Men in Blue ended the home team’s 13-match winning streak in ODIs, making it a do-or-die match for Sri Lanka and Pakistan on Thursday.

India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Tuesday. The Indian openers started strongly with Rohit playing aggressive cricket. The two put on an 80-run partnership before Sri Lankan spin wizard Dunith Wellalage dismissed Gill. The 20-year-old continued his onslaught as he dismissed Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in quick succession to reduce India from 80/0 to 91/3.

The youngster went on to pick two more wickets of KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya to complete his maiden fifer. Meanwhile, Charith Asalanka also joined the party, claiming four wickets to quickly wrap up the Indian innings. Maheesh Theekshana took the final wicket of Axar Patel as India, for the first time, lost all their wickets to spinners.

Chasing 214 was never going to be easy for Sri Lanka, especially with the kind of quality bowlers India have and a tough pitch to bat on. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj took three quick wickets to break their top order. Then the spin combo of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja joined the party to wrap up the Sri Lankan innings for 172/10 in 41.3 overs. However, a 63-run partnership between Dhananjaya de Silva and Wellalage gave the hosts a glimmer of hope, but Jadeja provided the crucial breakthrough.

Speaking after the first innings, Player of the Match Wellalage said: “I want to thank my coaches and management, especially my spin bowling coach. I tried to bowl my normal variations and not give runs. My dream wicket was Kohli’s wicket. The surface is uneven and it is not easy but we have a good batting line-up, we will give a good fight.”

Here’s how fans reacted to India’s win over Sri Lanka in the Super Fours:  

https://twitter.com/imughalz/status/1701648639196578264

https://twitter.com/CricFnatic/status/1701648778896273592

Kuldeep is Kuldeep yar

— عمران خان کا کھلاڑی (@hazratali627) September 12, 2023

https://twitter.com/ishivamkahar/status/1701650158935761199

https://twitter.com/SanskariSaumyat/status/1701649076796940404

Dekhte hai abb Kon takkar lene aata hai. pic.twitter.com/jgtC5QoNnm

— 丂нυ͢͢͢внαηкαя ⚡ Leͥgeͣnͫd ᴳᵒᵈ (@Akshay_1God) September 12, 2023

Hopefully another India-Pakistan game and we'll win again with a big margin like last time! What a great final what will be!

— Shahzeb Khan (@theshahzebkhan) September 12, 2023

https://twitter.com/rafayhassan17/status/1701648654006931607

Kuldeep the superhero

— Satya Prakash (@Satya_Prakash08) September 12, 2023

https://twitter.com/vilen_AFC/status/1701648652849275316