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India defeat Sri Lanka to secure Asia Cup triumph

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India captured the Asia Cup for the first time since 1995 with an 81-run victory over defending champions Sri Lanka in the final in Dambulla.

Having opted to bat first, India were given a fine start by Dinesh Karthik, who struck nine fours in his 66.
Skipper Mahendra Dhoni hit two fours and a six in 38 and Rohit Sharma made 41 as they reached 268-6.
Sri Lanka lost Tillakaratne Dilshan for a second ball duck and Ashish Nehra took 4-40 as they were all out for 187.

It was India's fifth Asian Cup title, taking them above the Sri Lankans as the most successful team in the history of the event, which was first staged in the United Arab Emirates in 1984.

Sri Lanka had won three of the most recent four competitions and beat India by seven wickets in the round-robin match between the teams on Tuesday.

But India's openers began well, maintaining a run-rate of six an over before Gautam Gambhir was run out for 15 attempting a quick third run.

Karthik appeared certain to help India to a mammoth total with his powerful strokeplay, but attempted one big shot too many off the bowling of spinner Thilina Kandamby and lobbed a simple catch to Mahela Jayawardene at deep square leg.

Dhoni hit Farveez Maharoof for a huge six before being caught at backward point in the 33rd over, but Sharma and Suresh Raina shared a stand of 50 inside nine overs to set Sri Lanka a tough target.

After Dilshan completely mis-timed a pull and was easily caught at mid-on from only his second delivery, Sri Lanka continued to lose important batsmen at regular intervals.

Upul Tharanga played no shot at a delivery from left-armer Zaheer Khan that cut back in to uproot the off-stump in the eighth over and Nehra then struck twice in three balls, claiming the key wicket of Jayawardene with one that rose and took the edge, followed by Angelo Mathews who edged a wide one.
Skipper Kumar Sangakkara was the fifth wicket to fall two overs later when he was another to mis-hit a pull, looping a simple catch to mid-on to give Nehra a third wicket.

Chamara Kapugedera struck his seventh ODI half century but was left stranded on 55 as Sri Lanka were dismissed in the 45th over.

"Its an ideal reflection," Dhoni said of his team's triumph. "The guys were putting in a lot of effort, not only in terms of fitness but skills as well and it is good that we've won the Asia Cup after a long time. I'm really happy with the performance over here.

"We wanted to get Dilshan out early because even if he stays for two or three overs he can just take 30-40 runs off you, so it was really good that we got him in the first over.

"The kind of bowling shown by Zaheer and Ashish was one of the best spells I have seen in these conditions."
Counterpart Sangakkara lamented: "The difference was in the first 15 overs, the way we bowled and the way they did, and also the helpful conditions. I think losing four wickets in the top order was not a great way to start.

"I think 269 was probably a chaseable total. I think a bit more application and being a bit more tight in our batting and having a little more of an attacking mindset would have seen us through.

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