With two wins in two days, against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, respectively, the Indian cricket team qualified for the final of the ongoing Asia Cup on Tuesday. After mauling Pakistan by 228 runs in their first match of the Super 4 stage on Monday, India needed a win to secure their passage. Despite putting just 213 runs on the board, India registered a 41-run win after bowling Sri Lanka out on 172. While a defeat wouldn’t have put them out of the contest, a win now allows them to test their bench strength against Bangladesh, who are already out of the final race, on Friday.
India’s win over Sri Lanka also gave Pakistan a sigh of relief ahead of their must-win game against the Dasun Shanaka-led side on Thursday in Colombo.
If Sri Lanka defeated India, Pakistan would’ve needed a massive win on Thursday to qualify for the final, as they have the worst net run-rate among all the four teams in the Super 4 stage.
After Rohit and his men defeated Sri Lanka, former India opener Wasim Jaffer took a dig at “Pakistan fans” with a hilarious post on X (formerly Twitter).
“Pak fans celebrating India’s win today after 228 run loss yesterday,” Jaffer captioned a photo of Hardik Pandya wearing a jersey with number ‘228’ on the back.
Defending a total of 214, India hit back with regular wickets and Jasprit Bumrah struck twice.
Asalanka attempted to increase the run-rate but became Kuldeep’s second wicket.
Dhananjaya de Silva fought back along with Wellalage in a threatening seventh-wicket stand of 63 but Ravindra Jadeja broke the partnership with the wicket of De Silva for 41.
