India end 15-year Asia Cup drought

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Mahendra Singh Dhoni chose the right day to win his first toss of the tournament, his batsmen obliged by posting a competitive total and quality swing bowling flowed in surplus as India regained the Asia Cup after a gap of 15 seasons here on Thursday.
Chasing 269, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 187 to hand India a 81-run win. Ashish Nehra was the chief architect with four wickets.
Clearly struggling with rhythm and fitness in the earlier games, Nehra made a strong comeback by claiming three wickets in eight balls to put Lanka on the brink. Praveen Kumar had surprised Tillakaratne Dilshan with a short delivery and a Zaheer Khan special clipped the bail when Upul Tharanga shouldered arms.
The early wickets set up things nicely for Nehra and the left-armer justified Dhoni’s faith.
Mahela Jayawardene of whom much was expected dabbed at one that rose awkwardly. Angelo Mathews lasted only two balls falling to poor shot selection. Sangakkara was also done in by the short ball to leave the innings in shambles. Dhoni allowed the partnership between Chamara Kapugedera and Thilan Kandamby to prosper by preferring the slow medium pace of Virat Kohli ahead of Ravindra Jadeja.
The duo added 53 runs in 84 balls before a horrible mix up off a no ball left both batsmen at the same end and Kandamby had to leave. The task was too steep for the lower order — the power play providing a faint hope that fizzled out quickly.
The Indian innings was a familiar start-stop stutter. There were moments to break free but Lasith Malinga’s searing pace and a committed effort on the field kept the brakes on. The start went according to script before Gautam Gambhir’s (100th ODI) promising tenure was cut short by a needless run out. Dinesh Karthik who had to endure a fair bit of ridicule since he arrived here answered his critics with a well-made 66.
Karthik and Kohli put the innings on course with a purposeful stand of 62 for the second wicket. Runs came easily on a wicket that played true. Kohli’s nicking Malinga ushered Dhoni to the crease.
A shrewd move considering Malinga was at his quickest and Muttiah Muralitharan was exercising good control from the other end. Karthik after reaching 50 off 51 balls went into a shell and the thrust was provided by Dhoni.
In spite of returning with a full strength squad, Sangakkara ran out of ideas and turned to the innocuous leg spin of Kandamby. Karthik obliged by hitting a waist high full toss to deep square leg.
Dhoni followed suit failing to keep a square cut down. Nuwan Kulasekara, who showed excellent discipline with the ball, came up with a reflex catch. Suresh Raina rotated the strike skilfully with Rohit Sharma until Malinga came back for his second spell.
Ravindra Jadeja was inept against the short ball and that added pressure on Rohit. Scampered running towards the end took India to 268/6.