Captain cool Mahendra Singh Dhoni once again showed his cool temperament in the tri-nation final against Sri Lanka and led India to a thrilling last over victory by smashing 16 runs of first four balls in the final over.
Chasing a modest score of 201, India lost early wickets of Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli but opner Rohit Sharma once again proved as an anchor for team India and played responsible cricket with Dinesh Karthik (23) and Suresh Raina (32) to lay a foundation for the win.
Sharma made a partnership of 50 runs with wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik and 62 for the fourth wicket with Suresh Raina before he departed at 58 (89) in the 32nd over to Rangana Herath.
Things then turned worst for India as Rangana Herath put Sri Lanka back into game by taking the wickets of Ravindra Jadeja (5) and Ravichandran Ashwin (0) off successive balls.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the only mainstream batsman left to play with the tail-enders, but he waited for the right time and played a superb knock of 45 in 52 balls hiting 5 fours and 2 sixes.
At a time, it all seemed India will loose the match as Mathews gave away just two runs off the second last over and India still needed 15 runs to win with one over left. But Dhoni once again proved to be a great finisher and smashed Eranga's first ball of the last over onto the roof and then with five runs required, the Indian captain smacked a flat six over extra cover to finish things off.
Earlier, a 122-run partnership between Kumar Sangakkara (71) and Lahiru Thirimanne (46) for the third wicket had put Sri Lanka in a strong position after two early wickets had put them on the backfoot.
However, that all changed quickly as Thirimanne tried one too many shots after Ishant Sharma has already been plundered for 15 runs in the 38th over of the match.
Sangakkara, after playing a patient innings, too gave it away cheaply, thereby setting a chain reaction for the worse.
Captain Angelo Mathews (10), Kusal Perera (2) and Dinesh Chandimal (5) seemed to lose their head, going for ambitious shots on a pitch that had proved to be difficult for shot-making all day.
Ravindra Jadeja, who had figures of four for 23, came in finished the tail in no time as the Lankans collapsed to 201 in 48.5 overs.
-With inputs from IANS
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