Mirpur (Bangladesh) : India rode on fine knocks by Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh to defeat Sri Lanka by five wickets in their Asia Cup Twenty20 cricket match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here on Tuesday.
Coming in after the early fall of opener Shikhar Dhawan, Kohli anchored the innings with some solid batting as India overhauled the 139-run target with five wickets in hand and four balls to spare.
Yuvraj produced a power-packed innings, hitting 35 runs off 18 balls with three boundaries and an equal number of sixes.
India, who have won all the three matches they have played so far, thus assured themselves a spot in the final.
The men in blue are at the top of the five-team table with six points and even an unlikely defeat in the final group game against minniows United Arab Emirates will see them through to the summit clash.
Nuwan Kulasekara was the most successful among the Sri Lankan bowlers with figures of 2/21.
Earlier, Sri Lanka produced a competitive total of 138/9 in their 20 overs. Chamara Kapugedera (30) was their highest scorer.
For India, promising all-rounder Hardik Pandya (2/26), off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (2/26) and young pacer Jasprit Bumrah (2/27) took two wickets each.
Veteran pacer Ashish Nehra (1/22), who bowled an excellent opening spell, also got a wicket.
Teams:
Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal, Tilakaratne Dilshan, Shehan Jayasuriya, Angelo Mathews (Captain), Milinda Siriwardana, Dasun Shanaka, Chamara Kapugedera, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Rangana Herath, Dushmantha Chameera.
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra.