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Asia Cup 2025: India survive whirlwind Pathum Nissanka hundred to beat Sri Lanka in Super Over | Cricket News

Sandip GBy No Comments7 Mins Read
India vs Sri Lanka Asia Cup Super Over


A bewitching, twisting game, strewn with comebacks and a tumult of emotions ended in a Super Over. But the one-over shootout was an anti-climax – Arshdeep Singh produced a fearsome over; three runs, two wickets, and a run-out off a dead ball. India wrapped up the chase on the first ball itself.

The twists came late and wicked. The suspense slow-burned, before 10 minutes of bedlam and a carnage of emotions. Before the penultimate over, Sri Lanka required 23 from 12 balls. The first half of Arshdeep’s over was perfect, then a pair of wides and a four last ball whittled the target down to 12 off six.

Then Harshit Rana terminated centurion Pathum Nissanka’s single-minded commitment to the cause of victory. He followed it up with three good balls. But an edged four off the last ball reignited Sri Lanka’s hopes. They required three runs off the last delivery. But the batsmen could only scramble a brace to stretch the match to a Super Over.

For much of the chase, Sri Lanka were favourites to overhaul the sizable score of 202. But the breaking of a 127-run, rope-a-dope-stand between Nissanka and Kusal Perera rerouted India back into the game. Two more wickets in quick succession and a stream of dot balls reasserted India’s ascendancy, but Nissanka, dropped on 53 by Axar Patel, was a man with an unconquerable will. He fought, completed a rip-roaring century off 52 balls, and pushed fans back home into a chasm of regret. Of what could have been.

Sri Lanka can be so magnificent on their days that one wonders why their nights of magnificence come so rare. Until the Super Fours stumble, they seemed the most well-rounded side in the tournament after India. But two bad days and two clumsy batting performances shoved them out of the tournament. Against India, they fought as valiantly as they could.

For India, it was not a wake-up call, but a reminder of the format’s vicissitudes. No matter how exemplary they are, there would be days when the hands of fate are stronger, there could be days when their cloak of invincibility would creak, the best-laid plans of men and mice could go kaput. It did not take India too long to comprehend the transient nature of sporting supremacy. They won by the skin of their teeth.

An inspired Nissanka flaying boundaries, India experienced their worst Powerplay of the tournament. After Hardik Pandya removed Kusal Mendis in the first over, the batsman indecisively wafting at a wide ball, Nissanka exploited the rustiness of Arshdeep and Harshit Rana, both featuring in their second game of the tournament, and betraying their rust with imprecise lengths and erratic lines.

Perhaps over-eager to display their wares, they hideously erred. Nissanka was in a murderous mood to not let the listless pair go unpunished. The left-armer strove for extravagant inward swing to Nissanka; Rana merely tried to bowl as fast as he could. The Sri Lankan strolled as though he was the lone vehicle on a six-lane highway. On cruise control, with hardly a scare.

When Arshdeep tried to bounce him out, he unleashed his ferocious pull. When he over-compensated with full balls, he crunched them through the covers with such blinding power that the fielders had barely a second to move.

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Rana then pinged him near the team’s crest on the helmet. He stared in anger, as Nissanka inspected the damage it had inflicted on the helmet. The hit roused him. The next ball, an off-cutter gone wrong, was languidly flicked. Enraged, Arshdeep cranked in a hard-length ball. But the line was on leg-stump and Nissanka swung it for a six. Rana ratcheted up hostility. After a dot ball, he gave Nissanka a rude stare. The Sri Lanka mainstay stared back, and then retorted with a furious six, slamming down the track and blunting him over mid-wicket. Hope fluttered in the Sri Lankan camp after the 16-run over. It always had been till Nissanka was in the middle.

The fortunes of Sri Lanka in the last six months have been intertwined with the form of Nissanka. Whenever the opener has sparkled, so had Sri Lanka. The rest have floated in and out of the team, with an occasional performance of note.

Most worrying has been Kusal Perera’s slump. An architect of Sri Lanka’s greatest moment in Test cricket, the Durban heist with a majestic 153 not out, his career has fluctuated wildly since. A pair of boundaries in the sixth over, off Axar Patel, infused Sri Lanka with a genuine belief that they could hunt down the target and upend the behemoth. At the end of the Powerplay, Sri Lanka had stormed to 72/1, the joint-highest haul in a difficult tournament for batsmen.

India captain Suryakumar implored his team to remain calm, lightening the mood with jokes and asking them to remain patient. But the slew of boundaries did not stop.

He turned to his ace in this tournament, Kuldeep Yadav. The Sri Lankan response: Perera swept him for a four on the second ball. Varun Chakaravarthy too stood helpless in the deluge of boundaries. Either side of reaching his half-century, Perera plundered Kuldeep for a four and six apiece. For the first time in the tournament, India looked confused and tormented, wondering how their smooth-as-silk machine was creaking. After 10 overs, Sri Lanka were 114 for 1. The shoe now was on the other foot.

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By now, Perera was the more assertive partner. The 35-year-old had endured a slump after his hundred against New Zealand at the start of the year. But here, he was at his violent best, invoking memories of his coach Sanath Jayasuriya in his pomp, destroying bowlers with unfathomable power. He is a Jayasuriya clone with a short backlift and closed-in arm. He was supremely strong in the region between mid-wicket and square leg, sweeping, slogging and slog-sweeping his way to a blistering crescendo.

Just when it seemed that Sri Lanka were strolling towards victory, Varun took out Perera with a tossed-up tempter. Unable to resist a rush of blood, he stomped down the track, threw the kitchen sink at the ball and managed to clasp only a handful of air to be stumped. The end of the 127-run stand furnished India with fleeting relief. But until Nissanka departed, India knew their chances were grim. He departed in the last over, but more drama kicked in thereafter.




The postAsia Cup 2025: India survive whirlwind Pathum Nissanka hundred to beat Sri Lanka in Super Over | Cricket News appeared first on Indian Express

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