Consistent Kohli leads India to 5 wicket win over Sri Lanka

DHAKA: Indian batting star Virat Kohli smashed a solid half-century to help his side achieve a 139-run target set by Sri Lanka in Asia Cup T20 here at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Tuesday night.

Kohli remained unbeaten on 56 off 85 deliveries, hitting 7 fours in the innings. He built a 51-run partnership with Yuvraj Singh, who made a 30-ball 35 with 3 fours and as many sixes. 

Suresh Raina also made a notable contribution in the team total by scoring 25 runs. India ended up scoring 142-5 with four balls to spare. 

Kulasekara grabbed two wickets while Perera, Herath and Shanaka shared a wicket each for Sri Lanka.

Earlier, young Indian pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya along with experienced spinner Ashwin grabbed two wickets each to restrict Sri Lanka to 138 for the loss of 9 wickets.

Pandya and Ashwin gave away 26 runs each while Bumrah took his two wickets for just 27 runs in full 4 overs.

Kapugedera remained top-scorer for the islanders scoring 30 off 32 balls. He was helped by Siriwardana 22, Dilshan and Mathews with 18 each, Perera 17 and Kulasekara with 13 runs at the end.

India won the toss and chose to bowl on a pace bowling-friendly green-top pitch earlier in the evening.

Angelo Mathews captained the Sri Lankan side as Lasith Malinga missed the second successive game. Mathews at the toss said he would have liked to bowl first as well.

Shikhar Dhawan returned to the top of India’s order after recovering from injury. He displaced Ajinkya Rahane from the playing eleven.

Despite losing to Bangladesh in their first T20 on Sunday, Sri Lanka opted to retain the same team.

Teams

India: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (c), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Aswhin, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah

Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Milinda Siriwardana, Dasun Shanaka, Angelo Mathews (c), Chamara Kapugedera, Shehan Jayasuriya, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Rangana Herath, Dushmantha Chameera