India vs Sri Lanka: The Asia Cup indeed has been one of the most intense tournaments in the history of cricket so far. The tournament has achieved a brilliant amount of fame following and support from the fans and cricket experts and why not?
The tournament provides several Asian nations to prove their worth on the international stages and also lets the world know who’s the dominator in Asia and is also ready to conquer the world. India and Sri Lanka are two of the most unpredictable and exciting cricketing Nations that take part in the Asia Cup’s every edition.
Both the teams have participated in several interesting and closely contested matches so far in Asia Cup history. Here we’re going to take a look at the top 3 matches played between these two sides so far in Asia Cup.
3. India vs Sri Lanka (2014 Asia Cup)
One of the most fantastic matches played between India and Sri Lanka was in the 2014 edition of the Asia Cup. India was asked to bat first after losing the toss and lost Rohit Sharma early. Virat and Shikhar then steered the Indian innings steadily and built on a fine partnership.
However, mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis dismissed both the batters and pushed India to the backfoot. The middle order failed to have any kind of impact as India only managed to put up 264 runs on the board. Sri Lanka in response got off to a good start. It was only in the 18th over that Thirimane was dismissed and the opening partnership was broken at the score of 80.
Sangakkara who came in at no.3 looked in great touch. However, the Wickets started falling regularly at the other end. Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja didn’t let the batters settle and picked three wickets each. However, Sangakkara held on end firmly and notched up a fine century.
By the time he was dismissed, Sri Lanka was already cruising towards victory which they eventually did by 2 Wickets and 2 balls to spare.
2. India vs Sri Lanka (2012 Asia Cup)
Another memorable encounter between Sri Lanka and India took place in the 2012 edition of the Asia Cup. Sri Lanka asked India to bat first after winning the toss. India lost the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar early and was under pressure early on.
A 22-year-old Virat Kohli joined Gautam Gambhir and the duo managed to achieve something incredibly good thereon as they stitched together a partnership of 205 runs for the second wicket. Both Gautam and Virat got centuries. Some fantastic finishing touches from Dhoni and Raina took the team’s total to 304 in 50 overs.
Sri Lanka lost Dilshan early during the chase, but then the impeccable duo of Sangakara and Jayawardene started showing some superb resistance as they started scoring quick runs. But the partnership couldn’t last longer as expected with Mahela falling for a quick fire 78.
Wickets then started to rumble one after the other as Chandimal, Tharanga, Thirimanne and Kulasekara all went cheaply. India went on to win the match handsomely by 50 runs.
1. India vs Sri Lanka (1995 Asia Cup final)
At no. 1 position in the list is the Asia Cup final in 1995 that was played between India and Sri Lanka in Sharjah. India won the toss and asked Sri Lanka to bat first. No batsman other than Asanka Gurusinha got going.
The right hander top scored with 85 for his side as Sri Lanka managed to get to 230. India during their chase lost both their openers at the score of 58. However the duo of Navjot Singh Sidhu and Mohammed Azharuddin took India home with an incredible 175 run partnership for the third wicket.
Both the batters smashed fine fifties as India won the match by 8 wickets and around 8 overs to spare. Azharuddin was awarded the man of the match for scoring an unbeaten 89.
Also Read:- Top 3 most Memorable India vs Bangladesh Matches in the history of Asia Cup