Cardiff: Unstoppable India marched into the final of the ICC Champions Trophy by trouncing Sri Lanka by eight wickets at the Cardiff Wales Stadium here on Thursday night.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side will now go on to meet hosts England in Sunday’s final.
After restricting Sri Lanka to a paltry 181 for eight through three-wicket spells from pacer Ishant Sharma and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, backed up by some brilliant fielding, India won the match with 90 balls to spare.
The in-form opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma provided a brilliant start as they put on 77 runs in 16.1 overs. Dhawan continued his run spree in the tournament by cracking 68 off 92 balls with six boundaries and a six.
He put on 65 runs in 14.5 overs for the second wicket with Virat Kohli before being brilliantly stumped by Kumar Sangakkara off Jeevan Mendis.
India only needed another 40 to win with eight wickets and 18 overs in hand at that stage, and Kohli cracked an unbeaten 58 off 64 balls to usher in the victory.
Earlier, Sharma and Ashwin’s were well backed up by some splendid fielding, led by the agile Suresh Raina, who took three catches.
After a slightly delayed start because of a damp outfield, the overhead conditions made it tough for batting.
Skipper Angelo Mathews top-scored with 51 from 89 balls with one boundary and a six, but Sri Lanka could only post a run rate target of 3.62 for the mighty Indian batting line-up.
India picked up an early wicket through young pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had Kusal Perera caught at second slip by Raina for four. Three overs later, Tillakaratne Dilshan was forced to retire hurt for 12.
Lahiru Thirimanne and Sangakkara looked like settling down when Raina pulled off another catch at second slip to dismiss Thirimanne in the 16th over.
Two overs later, Raina took his third catch in the same position to give Sharma the prized wicket of Sangakkara for 17.
There was no shortage of drama from then on. Dhoni, handing his wicketkeeping gloves to Dinesh Karthik, almost picked up the wicket of Mahela Jayawardene. Umpire Aleem Dar adjudged Jayawardene leg before, but had to retract the decision after a review. Dhoni went on to bowl four overs, giving away just 17 runs.
Jayawardene and Mathews began to hit the ball well, with Mathews even stepping out to hit Sharma for a six over long-on. Ravindra Jadeja also had a leg-before decision overturned, this time against Mathews, after the review proved that umpire Richard Kettleborough was wrong to raise his finger. The pair went on to add 78 runs in 118 balls before Jadeja bowled Jayawardene, who was attempting a heave to mid-wicket, for 38.
Mathews, after completing his half-century, escaped being caught by Virat Kohli at log-on off Ashwin, but fell two balls later playing an uppish shot to Kumar in the covers for 51.
Thisara Perera hit Sharma high to Dhawan at deep mid-wicket for a duck meaning, despite limping in pain, Dilshan came back to resume his innings. Ashwin picked up his third wicket by having Mendis stumped by Dhoni for 25, while Dilshan remained unbeaten on 18.
