IND vs BAN: India's Victory Over Sri Lanka More Convincing Than Pakistan, Says Gautam Gambhir

While Team India were given a run for their money by Sri Lanka in the Super 4 clash of the Asia Cup 2023 on Tuesday (September 12), former cricketer Gautam Gambhir has said that the hard-fought win over the Islanders was more convincing than the thumping win over arch-rivals Pakistan.

A day after thrashing Pakistan by 228 runs, the Rohit Sharma-led side were on the verge of suffering a shock loss against Sri Lanka. High-flying Sri Lanka, who were on a 13-match winning streak, bowled India out for a modest total of 213 runs. Left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage spun a web around the Indian team and picked up a highly impressive five-wicket haul.

But unlike the Indian batters, the bowlers came up with a solid show. Led by in-form Kuldeep Yadav’s four-wicket haul, India bowled out Sri Lanka for 172 to win the game by 41 runs and storm into the final of the Asia Cup 2023. The likes of Dhananjaya de Silva, and Dunith Wellalage threatened to spoil the party but India held their nerves to cross the finishing line.

Gautam Gambhir on India’s hard-fought win:

While the contrasting performances against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in a matter of few hours have raised a number of eyebrows, Gautam Gambhir believes that the win over the latter was more ‘convincing’ than against the former.

“This victory for me was more convincing than Pakistan. We won against Pakistan by 228 runs but this would give them a lot of confidence,” Gautam Gambhir said on Star Sports.

“There was no doubt about the batting unit. There were always doubts about Jasprit Bumrah coming back after an injury. Then you got Kuldeep and the other bowlers. But defending 217 on this wicket, plus the conditions. I know there was a bit of grip on the wicket but it gripped more in the first innings.

“Defending 217 against Sri Lanka, they are a really good side playing against spin. This would give them a lot of confidence going into the final and then the World Cup. because the moment your Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav start firing, I think it gives a lot of confidence to the captain,” added Gautam Gambhir.

India’s pacers once again gave the team the early breakthroughs. Jasprit Bumrah picked up two wickets while Mohammed Siraj accounted for 1 as India had Sri Lanka reeling at 25 for 3. After that, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja ran through Sri Lanka’s middle and lower order to give the team a hard-fought win.