It was a crucial match for India. Winning meant sure final birth. India came up to the expectations by playing the match with surgical precision to defeat powerful Sri Lankans who were already in the finals. India having lost the previous match with Pakistan in spite of scoring 308, batting first, was a bit of under pressure.
Sri Lanka, batting first scored 308, losing 8 wickets. It was a good total from any standard and a good fighting was on cards. All the frontline batsman of Sri Lanka were successful. Kapugedera top scored with 75. Captain Mahela Jayawardene and Chamara Silva scored 50 each and the flame buoyant Sanat Jayasurya a breeze 43.
India opened with Sehwag and Gambhir, both in form batsman. They played freely hitting all around scoring 92 for the first wicket in 70 balls. After the exit of Sehwag, scoring 42 in 34 balls, Riana joined the proceedings. At the end of 15th over Indian were 110 for 1. Ghambhir was out at the total of 135, personally scoring 68 in 61 balls.
Captain Dhoni joined promoting himself in the higher order. Both Dhoni and Raina started consolidating and played with caution for some time. At the end of 30th over, India was184 for 2. After 30 over, they too started to speed up the scoring rate. They went on and on, hitting the ball briskly, never allowing the run rate to fall below 6, till at 234 Raina was run out for a millimeter!
Yubraj joined and started playing in his characteristic style. Dhoni departed at 253 giving a temporary jolt to Indian team. However rest of the runs were procured by Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma without getting separated and the match was over in the 46th over, India hauling up 310 for 4. ‘Man of the Match’ award went to Captain Dhoni for his well-constructed innings of 67 in 62 balls at a crucial time.
It was commendable task scoring 300 plus runs batting second, in the hot and humid atmosphere of Karachi. Now India-Sri Lanka final would be played on 6th June with advantage India.
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