The preview of the first match of the Asia cup for India revolved around the all elusive 100th 100 for Sachin Tendulkar. But in the 6th over when Lakmal sent the Master Blaster packing, the unsung hero Gautam Gambhir (100 runs) and the pin-up boy of Indian cricket, Virat Kohli (108 runs) took centre stage as India defeated Sri Lanka by 50 runs in their opening encounter of the Asia Cup here at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur on Tuesday.
Chasing a target of 304 set by India, Sri Lanka started off rather ominously only to lose track of the chase owing to some tight bowling lead by Irfan Pathan (8.1-1-32-4) and Ravichandran Ashwin (9-0-39-3).
For Sri Lanka, the captain stepped up again as he racked up 78 runs in just 59 balls first up and along with Kumar Sangakkara (65) kept the islanders on track chasing 304, but the rest of the batsmen failed to make any significant contributions down the order.
–Agencies