Asia Cup 2023: India vs Sri Lanka, Super Fours, 4th Match, Who said What

Sri Lankan Cricket Team. (Photo Source: Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)

Back-to-back two wins in two consecutive days for team India. In a spin-friendly track, Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first and took advantage of the powerplay. The skipper himself decided to go after the Lankan pacers and eventually hit a scintillating half-century to give the Men in Blue a perfect start. However, as soon as the ball started to spin, Sri Lanka bounced back as Dunith Wellalage picked up five wickets and Charith Asalanka picked up four. Courtesy of their incredible effort, Sri Lanka bundled India for 213 runs.

When it came to the chase, Sri Lanka lost a few quick wickets as Jasprit Bumrah was incredible with the new ball. Following which, Dhananjaya de Silva and Dunith Wellalage built a crucial partnership, which could have taken them over, but Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja picked up a total of six wickets to decimate the Lankan batters and helped India win by 41 runs. With the win, India also qualified for the finals of the Asia Cup 2023.

Talking points in the match between India vs Sri Lanka

Rohit’s third half-century on the trot

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma hit back-to-back three half-centuries on the trot and that’s a massive positive sign ahead of the ODI World Cup 2023. He set the tone of the match and courtesy of the same, the Men in Blue managed to score 213 runs, which proved to be extremely valuable for the national team.

Kuldeep Yadav’s wizardry

After picking up a five-for against Pakistan on Monday, Kuldeep picked up four wickets against Sri Lanka on Tuesday. He is in incredible form at the moment and it will only boost his morale ahead of the Asia Cup 2023 final and the ODI World Cup.

Dunith Wellalage – The star of the show

Be it with the bowl or with the bat, Dunith Wellalage has been the showstopper. He picked up five wickets and with the bat, the 20-year-old hit 42* runs off 46 deliveries and kept the team in the game. However, wickets kept falling from the other end and Sri Lanka unfortunately lost the match by 41 runs.

Losing skipper Dasun Shanaka said:

We didn’t expect this kind of wicket, I thought it was a batting wicket but we adjusted well, especially Wellalage, DDS and Asalanka. The luxury of two genuine batters, they have been bowling in the nets and I know their real potential, today I had the option of using them today. Seeing the last game against Bangladesh I knew he (Wellalage) would do something special today, he took Kohli’s wicket and I was pretty sure it was his day and will take a couple more wickets.

Winning skipper Rohit Sharma said:

It was a good game. For us also to play a game like that under pressure. Challenged a lot of aspects of our game. We definitely want to play on pitches like to see what we can achieve. [Hardik] He’s worked hard on his bowling over the last couple of years, and it’s pleasing to see how he bowled that spell. Not an easy target to defend. Pitch got slightly better towards the end so we had to hold our nerve and bowl consistently. [Kuldeep?] Again for the past year or so bowling really well. He’s worked hard on his rhythm and you can see the results in the last 15 ODIs he’s played. He gives us a lot of options. So going forward it’s a pretty good sign.

POTM Dunith Wellalage said:

First of all I want to congratulate the Indian team. Unfortunately we lost the match today, but we have one more game to make it to the final. Kuldeep Yadav is a great bowler, but I tried to play my normal game and stay positive. [How were you feeling?] Since a small age I worked hard, had a positive mindset. Want to thank my teammates and supporting staff.”