Sri Lanka struggle to 181 at the end of their innings in knockout game.
India’s attack has put them in the box-seat to move through to the Champions Trophy final after they bundled out Sri Lanka for just 181 in their semi-final at Cardiff.
In what would prove to be a vital toss to win, the coin fell India’s way and they had no hesitation sending Sri Lanka in to bat, with rain in the air and soon-to-be realised movement off the pitch.
Kusal Perera was the first to go for Sri Lanka departing the crease on just four, before they lost the experience of Tillakaratne Dilshan after he was forced to retire hurt.
Ishant Sharma continued to get the most out of the seaming conditions as he grabbed his second wickets for the innings, when an edge off the bat of Kumar Sangakkara flew to second slip and his side fell to 36-2 off 18 overs.
Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Matthews then put on 78 runs for the fourth wicket to take the score to 119, before a ball from Jadeja skidded on lower than expected, with Mahela looking to smash it towards midwicket, only to see it crash into the stumps.
With conditions more like the first morning of a Test match than that of a Champions Trophy semi-final, the Indian bowlers continued to squeeze the life out of their opponents’ innings.
The deck at Cardiff also showed signs of spinning as Ravichandran Ashwin was brought into the attack with great results.
Ashwin (3-48) helped clean up much of the tail and dismiss the lone Sri Lankan batsman who looked comfortable at the crease (Matthews 51) with a further wicket to Sharma leaving him with 3-33 off nine.
Despite only needing 3.64 runs to book their place in the Champions Trophy final against England, India will also have a tough task in the difficult conditions that do no show any signs of improving as the afternoon continued.
Champions Trophy
India v Sri Lanka
Played at Cardiff
Toss won by India
Sri Lankan Innings
Sri Lanka
K. Perera c Raina b Kumar 4
T. Dilshan not out 18
K. Sangakkara c Raina b I Sharma 17
L. Thirimanne c Raina b I Sharma 7
M. Jayawardene b Jadeja 38
A. Mathews c Kumar b Ashwin 51
J. Mendis st Dhoni b Ashwin 25
T. Perera c Dhawan b I Sharma 0
N. Kulasekara b Ashwin 1
L. Malinga not out 7
Extras (lb2, w11) 13
Total (8 wkts, 50 overs) 181
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (K Perera), 2-36 (Thirimanne), 3-41 (Sangakkara), 4-119 (Jayawardene), 5-158 (Mathews), 6-160 (T Perera), 7-164 (Kulasekara), 8-171 (Mendis)
Did not bat: R Herath
Bowling: Kumar 9-2-18-1; Yadav 8-2-30-0; I Sharma 9-1-33-3 (2w); Jadeja 10-1-33-1; Dhoni 4-0-17-0 (1w); Ashwin 10-1-48-3 (8w);
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