Asia Cup: Kohli, Yuvraj pave final path

MIRPUR: "Ind-yeah!" read a fan's placard at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Tuesday night. It was an apt description of the manner in which a fluent Virat Kohli (56 not out; 47 balls, 7x4), a vintage Yuvraj Singh (35; 18b, 3x4, 3x6) and a sturdy bowling attack helped India script a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka and become the first team in the Asia Cup to seal their place in the final.This was India's third successive win and came with four balls to spare.
It wasn't all smooth sailing, though. Chasing 139, Nuwan Kulasekara's (221) twin strikes ensured India were on the back foot early in the chase. They lost openers Shikhar Dhawan (1) and Rohit Sharma by the fourth over, with just 16 on the board. With 123 runs in arrears, Kohli and Suresh Raina (25; 26b, 2x4) lent some stability. While Kohli peppered the offside field with crisp drives, Raina targeted the leg side on a regular basis. Kohli seemed to have continued from where he left off on Saturday, looking at ease from the word go.
The two added 54 in 7.5 overs to bring down the equation to 69 runs off the last 53 deliveries. Raina was caught at mid-off by Kulasekara off Dasun Shanaka (1-7).
In walked Yuvraj. He started off with a boundary over backward point and two consecutive sixes in the 13th over, bowled by Rangana Herath, meant India needed 47 from the final 42 balls. In the company of Yuvraj, Kohli added 51 in 5.4 overs to bring India to the doorstep of victory. Despite Sri Lanka picking up a couple of wickets towards the end, India closed the contest in 19.2 overs.
Earlier, some purposeful batting in the last 10 overs saw Sri Lanka end up with 1389. Their top order failed to get going but handy contributions from Chamara Kapugedera, skipper Mathews and Milinda Siriwardana in the middle overs saw the side remain in the hunt. The fifth-wicket partnership between Siriwardana and Kapugedera added 43 runs in 5.1 overs but it was the only substantial stand as Indian bowlers picked up wickets at regular intervals. Thisara Perera and Nuwan Kulasekara struck some meaty blows as the final five overs produced 47 runs.
R Ashwin (2-26) and Hardik Pandya returned with identical figures while Jasprit Bumrah (2-27) bowled a tidy spell as well.