India beat Sri Lanka by 5 wickets in their third match of the Asia Cup Twenty20 in Dhaka on Tuesday to book their place in the final.
In a script that’s starting to become increasingly familiar for Team India, the openers failed before Virat Kohli put together a well-made knock of 56 from 47 balls to rescue his team from a spot of bother and take India across the finish line.
Read | Asia Cup: Kohli anchors India to win over Sri Lanka for place in final
Like the previous match against Pakistan, this one too generated plenty of humour among Twitter users.
India played Sri Lanka for the fourth time in the past month, having beaten the islanders 2-1 at home in February. The overkill of this rivalry came in for some flak.
Ashish Nehra got things going for India, taking a wicket in the third over. And Jasprit Bumrah followed that up with a wicket in the next over. At 36, Nehra has made an extremely impressive comeback.
{{/usCountry}}Ashish Nehra got things going for India, taking a wicket in the third over. And Jasprit Bumrah followed that up with a wicket in the next over. At 36, Nehra has made an extremely impressive comeback.
{{/usCountry}}Then there were the now common jokes on Nehra’s teeth.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bowled a rare front-foot no-ball. But Sri Lanka batsman Dasun Shanaka managed to top that, getting run out off the free hit that followed.
In India’s chase of the Lankans’ 138/9, the opening combination of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan failed once again.
With India 15/2 in the fourth over, Virat Kohli came to the crease. He read the game well, took his time and kept the scoreboard ticking with ones, twos and the occasional boundary. His unbeaten 56 earned him the man-of-the-match award.
There were question marks over Yuvraj Singh when he came in to bat, thanks to his slow innings against Pakistan. The pressure began to build, but Yuvraj released it with consecutive sixes that was reminiscent of his six sixes in an over at the inaugural World T20 in 2007 and his crucial role in India’s 2011 World Cup win.
When Yuvraj got out, captain Dhoni came to the cruise, hitting his trademark six to virtually seal the win.
But fittingly, he let Kohli hit the winning runs.
And there were observations that only dedicated Twitter users could have come up with.