India dominate Sri Lanka on way to final

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Suraj Randiv is visibly delighted after reaching his maiden ODI half-century.

India's best fielding performance in ODIs since the Champions Trophy in September last year set up their march to the final through a thumping win. It wasn't anything spectacular: half chances were taken and easy ones not missed, in itself a big improvement on their recent fielding form. That, coupled with impressive bowling from Zaheer Khan and Amit Mishra, pulled Sri Lanka from an explosive start and restricted them to a paltry 213, which was chased with 17.2 overs to spare.
After a quick start, India were in complete control of their cruise to the final. Chasing a paltry 214, the lowest total of the tournament, Dinesh Karthik and Gautam Gambhir almost sealed the deal when they took 86 off the first 10 overs. Karthik's wicket, and the decision to not take further Powerplays, slowed India down a little, but it only seemed to be delaying the foregone conclusion, especially with Sri Lanka giving Gambhir two lives.
Karthik is used to not being assured of a place in the XI, but he is also used to making a mark in the odd games he gets. In the first half of the game, he took a catch and affected a smart run-out, and followed up by dominating the opening partnership. He started off with a streaky boundary past the slip, but soon got into the groove, and punished errors in both line and length. Anything straying on the pads was flicked through midwicket, and the ones short were cut through point and covers. Gambhir, used to batting with Virender Sehwag, smartly played second fiddle and although Karthik missed his fifty, Gambhir set himself to stay unbeaten.
Apparently not quite. Gambhir did give two chances, but was dropped by Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga on 41 and 44 respectively. Although not at his most fluent, Gambhir was severe with anything short and wide, threading tight off-side fields. Once with Virat Kohli, and with fields spread, the two got down to exploiting the gaps, running almost on intuition, scoring 44 off their unbeaten 52-run partnership on foot.
For a change, India's fielders stood up to help their bowlers, converting every opportunity created, and helping keep Sri Lanka to a below-par total. It wasn't anything spectacular: half chances were taken and easy ones not dropped, a big improvement on their recent fielding form. And just like that India reined in a murderous start from Tillakaratne Dilshan to reduce them to 84 for 6, after which it was a struggle to last 50 overs.
Zaheer Khan was the pick of the bowlers, creating three of those opportunities. At one stage his figures read 6-2-11-2. Half-centuries from Kumar Sangakkara and Suraj Randiv took them past 200, but the ease with which the lower order scored runs only spelled trouble for Sri Lanka: batting was not difficult at all.
The first 11 overs had all the action: two wicket-maidens, a wicket in the first over of new spells on three occasions, and in between that scintillating batting from Dilshan. Coming back from a groin injury, Dilshan decided to do away with the running. He just drove, cut, pulled, late-cut eight boundaries in 17 deliveries to deflate any confidence that India and Sudeep Tyagi would have gained from getting Upul Tharanga out in the first over.
When Zaheer was brought on, in the sixth over, Dilshan had hit seven boundaries in his 29, and Sri Lanka nine in their 38. He was pulled for a four second ball. The next ball took a thick edge, and was dying on Gautam Gambhir at fine gully when snared. Zaheer was pumped, and proceeded to bowl to a plan that worked just fine for him. He played on the batsmen's patience with nagging accuracy and gave nothing to drive, with a short cover in place. Mahela Jayawardene gave in, driving a ball that should not have been driven, and Virat Kohli hung on to a sharp catch at short cover.
India 214 for 2 (Kohli 71*, Gambhir 71, Karthik 48) beat Sri Lanka 213 (Sangakkara 68, Randiv 56, Zaheer 3-38, Mishra 3-40) by eight wickets