India enters Asiad men’s cricket final, thrashes Sri Lanka by 124 runs

Nisshin: As cricket returns to Japan after a period of uncertainty due to rain, India secured tickets to the final after beating Sri Lanka by a massive margin of 124 runs in the semi-final of the Asian Games men’s cricket competition. The defending champions will face Pakistan in the final for the gold.

Having won the toss and elected to bowl first, Sri Lanka caused chaos early in the game by dismissing three Indian top-order batters: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samon and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in quick succession. Ishan Kishan anchored in the middle of the pitch to facilitate a redemption, scoring 80 off just 46 balls, including 5 sixes and 4 fours. India finished with 169/7 in the first innings, with teenager Vaibhav Sooryavanshi being the only other batter to contribute a decent knock on a difficult wicket.

Sri Lanka trembled under pressure right at the beginning of their innings, with three top-order batters going back to the pavilion without scoring during a dangerous opening spell from Jasprit Bumrah. Indian bowlers capitalised on the advantage by further pushing Lanka into a collapse by picking wickets at regular intervals.

Abhishek Sharma bowled the final over of the game to dismiss the last two batters and wind up the Lankan innings at just 45. Nuwanidu Fernando was the only batter who crossed double figures for Sri Lanka.

Brief Scores:

India: 169 for 7 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 80; Sahan Arachchige 2/28).

Sri Lanka: 45 all out in 9.5 overs (Nuwanidu Fernando 15; Jasprit Bumrah 2/7, Axar Patel 2/8, Abhishek Sharma 2/2 ).