DUBAI: Defending champions India survived Pathum Nissanka’s blistering hundred and some intense Super Over drama before beating Sri Lanka in a dead rubber to maintain their unbeaten run in the T20 Asia Cup on Friday.

With India having already secured their place in Sund­ay’s final against Pakistan and Sri Lanka eliminated, the Super Fours clash at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium was of merely academic interest but it turned out to be the most exciting game of this year’s tournament.

Sri Lanka gave a good account of themselves and matched India’s 202-5 to force the Super Over after Nissanka (107) smashed the first individual hundred of this year’s tournament.

Sri Lanka, however, managed only two runs in the Super Over before losing both the wickets in five deliveries from Arshdeep Singh.

Indian skipper Surya­kumar Yadav took three runs from the first delivery from Wanindu Hasaranga to seal their victory in a matter-of-fact way.

Earlier, put into bat, 20-overs world champions India racked up the tournament’s first 200-plus total riding opener Abhishek Sharma’s third consecutive fifty in the tournament.

Abhishek, the world’s top-ranked T20 batter, maintained his red-hot form with a sizzling 61 off 31 balls.

Opening partner Shubman Gill fell for four and skipper Suryakumar’s (12) slump in form continued but India did not really suffer as Abhishek raced to a 22-ball fifty.

Sri Lankan captain Charith Asalanka removed Abhishek but Tilak Varma, who made 49 not out, and Sanju Samson (39) maintained the pressure on the Sri Lankan bowlers.

In their chase, Sri Lanka lost Kusal Mendis for a duck in the first over but cruised to 72-1 after the six powerplay overs.

India rested pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, while Hardik Pandya bowled just one over before leaving the field.

Nissanka needed 25 balls to bring up his fifty and Kusal Perera (58) could not be denied his half-century either.

Spinner Varun Chakr­avarthy broke the 127-run stand when he dismissed Perera.

Right-handed Nissanka raced to a 52-ball hundred but fell in the first ball of the last over, which ended with Sri Lanka also on 202-5 forcing the Super Over. He was named man-of-the-match.

Suryakumar said that he had told his team to play the game like a semi-final.

“It felt like a final. The boys showed a lot of character after the first half in the second innings. I had told them to play this like a semi-final. It’s good to be on the winning side,” the skipper said after the match.

The captain said that India would think about the final after some recovery.

“Let’s have a good recovery tonight. Let us not think about that [the final] right now. Few boys had a lot of cramps today. Have a good recovery day tomorrow and we will turn up the same way we did today,” he said. “What I wanted from the boys, just trying to execute their plans, be clear and not to fear, that was really important and I am sure everyone got what they wanted.”

Speaking after the match, Asalanka praised Nissanka and Perera for their explosive strokeplay.

“It was a fabulous game. I think we were in the game and we were handling the game pretty nicely until Varun and Kuldeep bowled those really nice overs. It was unbelievable hitting [by Nissanka and Perera],” Asalanka said.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA:

A. Sharma c K.D. Mendis b Asalanka 61

S. Gill c&b Theekshana 4

S. Yadav lbw b Hasaranga 12

T. Varma not out 49

S. Samson c Asalanka b Shanaka 39

H. Pandya c&b Chameera 2

A. Patel not out 21

EXTRAS (LB-5, NB-2, W-7) 14

TOTAL (for five wkts, 20 overs) 202

DID NOT BAT: H. Rana, K. Yadav, V. Chakravarthy, A. Singh

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-15 (Shubman), 2-74 (S. Yadav), 3-92 (Sharma), 4-158 (Samson), 5-162 (Pandya)

BOWLING: Thushara 4-0-43-0 (2w, 1nb), Theekshana 4-0-36-1 (2w), Chameera 4-0-40-1 (1w), Hasaranga 4-0-37-1, Shanaka 2-0-23-1 (2w, 1nb), Asalanka 2-0-18-1

SRI LANKA:

P. Nissanka c Varun b Rana 107

K. Mendis c Gill b Pandya 0

K. Perera st Samson b Varun 58

C. Asalanka c Shubman b K. Yadav 5

K.D. Mendis c Patel b Singh 3

D. Shanaka not out 22

J. Liyanage not out 2

EXTRAS (B-1, W-4) 5

TOTAL (for five wkts, 20 overs) 202

DID NOT BAT: W. Hasaranga, M. Theekshana, D. Chameera, N. Thushara

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-7 (K. Mendis), 2-134 (Perera), 3-157 (Asalanka), 4-163 (K.D. Mendis), 5-191 (Nissanka)

BOWLING: Pandya 1-0-7-1, Singh 4-0-46-1 (3w), Rana 4-0-54-1, Patel 3-0-32-0, K. Yadav 4-0-31-1 (1w), Varun 4-0-31-1

RESULT: India won the Super Over.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2025