Asia Cup'12 Match 2: "All-round INDIA seal 50-runs win"

Asia Cup, Mirpur, Match 2:

India won by 50 runs 

India v Sri Lanka 

India 304/3 (50 ov)

Sri Lanka 254 (45.1 ov)

Virat Kohli leaps after completing his century, India v Sri Lanka, Asia Cup, Mirpur, March 13, 2012 

Virat is the Man of the Match. Virat: "To be able to adjust so quickly from Australia is very satisfying because of the different conditions. We [Gautam and I] have got a lot of big stands between us. We understand each others' games really well. We don't have to tell each other what to do. It is very satisfying when the wicket is slow, you have to control your urge to hit a boundary and take the singles. It is just a great honour [the vice-captaincy], I never expected it at 23." Well said, fiery one.

Dhoni: "It was difficult at that time when Mahela was batting well. The wicket changed a bit, it came onto the bat better and they were able to play their shots. Praveen was having an off day then, they took Jadeja for runs, so I was actually two bowlers short at that time. And had to get the part-timers in. But Praveen came back well, and Irfan and Vinay supported him well. There were not many boundaries in the Virat-Gautam partnership but they did well to set up a base. It is a tough ground to defend with quick outfield. Hopefully it won't be as easy to bat in the second innings as it is now as the tournament goes on. It is not that we played badly against Sri Lanka [in Australia]."


Mahela: "When you are chasing something like that, the guys who get starts have to finish off. Pretty bad shot from me. We chased really well, nothing wrong with the wicket. We needed to finish the chase which we did not do. Initially they set it up nicely with Gautam and Virat. I thought we gave away 15-20 runs more, it is difficult to bowl to Dhoni and Raina, our fielding could have been better too. We can take many positives out of this game. The new guys did well. Suranga bowled well. I have enjoyed batting up the order. I am more relaxed, I can play my shots It is easy to bat with Dilshan and it later flows with Sanga. But as I said, I played a pretty bad shot."