India beat Sri Lanka by 8 wickets, reach tri-nation series final

Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir toyed with the Sri Lankan attack as India stormed into the final of the cricket tri-series after crushing the islanders by eight wickets in a lopsided match in Mirpur today.

Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir toyed with the Sri Lankan attack as India stormed into the final of the cricket tri-series after crushing the islanders by eight wickets in a lopsided match here today.

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The Indian bowlers did a neat job, skittling out Sri Lanka for a meagre 213 in 46.1 overs before their batting
colleagues took over, guiding the team to 214 for two for a facile win that came with 17.2 overs to spare.

Gautam Gambhir (71 off 86 balls) and Dinesh Karthik (48 off 40 balls) gave India a flying start before Virat Kohli
came up with a breezy unbeaten 71 off just 68 balls to complete the formality.

Irrespective of the outcome of their final group match against Bangladesh tomorrow, India will meet Sri Lanka in
Wednesday's final.

Kohli notched up his fifth half century in his 18th ODI, which he made with the help of nine fours while Gambhir, who
was dropped twice – on 41 and 44 – smashed his 19th ODI fifty in his 94th match.

With this win, India, who played today without key players Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra,
have won two matches out of three while Sri Lanka ended their league engagements with three wins out of four.

India have collected nine points, with a bonus point for reaching the target in less overs in today's match.