Twitter Reactions: Sri Lanka Legends all set to face India Legends in the final

Ten years ago, the Indian National side faced the Sri Lanka National side in the ICC ODI World Cup 2011 final. Now after a decade, the legends of both sides are set to lock horns in the final of the Road Safety World Series as the Lankan side beat South Africa in the second semi-final.

While the first semi-final was a highly competitive one, the second was a rather one-sided affair. The Asian side won the toss and opted to bowl first. Right from the toss to the end result of the match everything just went in their favour. Sent in to bat first the South African team made a meal out of their inning.

Nuwan Kulasekara struck early to dismiss Andrew Puttick for a duck. Morne van Wyk though played well and finished with a score of 53 runs in 47 balls. Though a good inning, it came at a very slow pace for the Proteas side. He was involved in a 47 run partnership with Alviro Petersen who scored 27 runs at a run a ball. The remaining batsman failed miserably as Justin Kemp was the only other batsman to enter double figures.

Nuwan Kulasekara’s fifer takes Sri Lanka into the finals

Some great bowling combined with some awful batting meant that the South African side was bowled out for a total of 125 runs in their 20 overs. For Sri Lanka Kulasekara was the pick of the bowlers as he finished with five wickets conceding only 25 runs in his four overs. Sanath Jayasuriya too bowled well as he got one wicket conceding only 12 runs in his quota of four overs.

Chasing 126 was always going to be a walk in the park for the strong Lankan line-up. Though both the openers could contribute only 18 runs each, Upul Tharanga and Chinthaka Jayasinghe made sure that their side won the game without any more hiccups. Tharanga scored an unbeaten 37 while his partner took on the aggressor’s role.

Jayasinghe made the most of this opportunity and scored 47 runs off 25 balls. His knock included eight boundaries and one maximum. Sri Lanka won the match by eight wickets in just 17.2 overs to enter the finals of the tournament. Makhaya Nitini and Alviro Petersen did bowl well but were unable to help their side win the game.