July 05, 2008	Saturday	Rajab 1, 1429

KARACHI, July 4: India bulldozed their way into the final of the ninth Asia Cup after cruising to a resounding six-wicket over reigning champions Sri Lanka in the Super Four round encounter at the National Stadium here on Thursday night (also partly reported in Friday’s edition).

The outcome of this vital fixture wiped out Pakistan’s hopes of reaching Sunday’s final against Mahela Jayawardene’s Sri Lankans, while also making the last Super Four match on Friday involving the hosts and Bangladesh inconsequential.

The Indians in a thought-out chase for 309 were not going to let up as all top six batsmen made contributions. Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the team’s leading run-getters in the tournament, all crossed the 50-run mark.

The openers provided the ideal launching pad in another great start; when Kulasekara deceived Sehwag (42 off 34 balls, six fours, one six) with a slow delivery and forced him to chip a simple catch to short fine leg, the blazing first-wicket stand had realised 92 in 71 deliveries.

Gambhir, once again, had done his job, punctuating 11 boundaries in a 61-ball 68.

Raina, dropped on four by substitute Jehan Mubarak in the covers, and Dhoni combined to add 99 runs in 92 deliveries before Raina (54 off 66 balls, three fours) went while going for a third run which never existed.

Dhoni who was named Man-of-the-Match was bowled by a quicker delivery from the wily Muralitharan, but the Indian captain’s 67 off 62 balls (three fours) had put his side within sight of victory. Yuvraj Singh (36 off 31 balls) ended the match with a magnificent cover-driven boundary off Kulasekara.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA:

S.T. Jayasuriya c Dhoni b I. Sharma 43

K.C. Sangakkara c Dhoni b I. Sharma 7

D.P.M.D. Jayawardene c Gambhir b Ojha 50

C.K. Kapugedera lbw b Kumar 75

L.P.C. Silva run out 50

T.M. Dilshan c R.P. Singh b Pathan 15

K. Weeraratne c Gambhir b R.P. Singh

T. Thushara run out 21

K.M.D.N. Kulasekara not out 6

M. Muralitharan not out 1

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-11, W-3) 15

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs) 308

FALL OF WKTS: 1-16, 2-71, 3-149, 4-217, 5-245, 6-263, 7-287, 8-307.

DID NOT BAT: C.R.D. Fernando.

BOWLING: R.P. Singh 10-1-44-1; I. Sharma 10-0-55-2 (1w); Pathan 10-0-80-1; Kumar 6-0-36-1 (1w); Ojha 10-0-55-1; Sehwag 3-0-22-0 (1w); R.G. Sharma 1-0-4-0.

INDIA:

G. Gambhir lbw b Murali 68

V. Sehwag c Fernando b Kulasekara 42

S.K. Raina run out 54

M.S. Dhoni b Murali 67

Yuvraj Singh not out 36

R.G. Sharma not out 22

EXTRAS (LB-11, W-9, NB-1)

TOTAL (for four wkts, 46.5 overs) 310

FALL OF WKTS: 1-92, 2-135, 3-234, 4-253.

DID NOT BAT: I.K. Pathan, P. Kumar, R.P. Singh, P.P. Ojha, I. Sharma.

BOWLING: Fernando 9-0-52-0 (1nb, 1w); Kulasekara 9.5-0-71-1 (5w); Thushara 8-0-67-0 (2w); Muralitharan 10-0-44-2; Weeraratne 5-0-36-0; Jayasuriya 3-0-19-0 (1w); Dilshan 2-0-10-0.

RESULT: India won by six wickets.

UMPIRES: B.G. Jerling (South Africa) and S.J.A. Taufel (Australia).

TV UMPIRE: Zameer Haider (Pakistan).

MATCH REFEREE: A.G. Hurst (Australia).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: M.S. Dhoni.