Sri Lanka win first World T20 title

Sri Lanka lifted their maiden World Twenty20 title at the third time of asking following their six-wicket victory against former champions India at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

Put into bat after evening drizzle delayed the start of the all-Asian final by 40 minutes, India posted a below-par 130 for four wickets despite Virat Kohli’s breezy 77.

India v Sri Lanka scorecard

India innings R Sharma c Senanayake b Herath 29 A Rahane b Mathews 3 V Kohli run out 77 Y Singh c Perera b Kulasekara 11 M Dohni not out 4 Extras: 6 Total: (4 wickets; 20 overs) 130 Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-64, 3-119, 4-130   Sri Lanka innings  M Perera c Jadeja b Sharma 5 T Dilshan c Kohli b Ashwin 18 D Jayawardene c Ashwin b Raina 24 K Sangakkara not out 52 H Thirimanne c Dhoni b Mishra 7 N Perera not out 23 Extras: 5 Total: (4 wickets; 17.5 overs) 134 Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-41, 3-65, 4-78

The 2007 winners lost opener Ajinkya Rahane in the second over before Kohli added 60 runs with Rohit Sharma (29) to prop up the innings and prepare for a late assault that failed to materialise.

Yuvraj Singh struggled to find the middle of the bat, taking up 21 balls to score just 11, which coupled with Sri Lanka’s brilliant death bowling restricted India to a total that left their bowlers little margin for error.

“In the middle overs, our batsmen tried their best to get going but it was one of those days when we couldn’t convert the kind of start we got,” India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said.

Kohli, the tournament’s top scorer and player of the event, ran himself out on the final delivery of the innings after a 58-ball knock that included four sixes and five boundaries. 

Malinga’s lethal accuracy

Sri Lanka pace spearhead Lasith Malinga dished out plenty of accurate yorkers as India managed just 19 runs off their last four overs.

Kumar Sangakkara hit an important 52 not out in his last Twenty20 international outing to help Sri Lanka chase down the 131-run victory target with 13 balls to spare and deny India, the reigning 50-over World Cup and Champions Trophy winners, a record limited over treble.

Sri Lanka finally managed to break their jinx of losing the finals of global events, having gone down in the decider of the 50-over World Cup in 2007 and 2011 and T20 World Cup in 2009 and 2012.