The Asia Cup was a chance for India to wipe the slate clean after the horrors of Australia, and they began their campaign by playing to their strengths - batting the opposition out of the game. Centuries by Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli took India to 304, and though the efforts of their bowlers cannot be ignored, crucial wickets were gifted away by Sri Lanka. It was an underwhelming performance by a Sri Lankan batting line-up that stretches till No.9, which in some ways was a spin-off from their performance in the loss in the third CB series final against Australia.
Tillakaratne Dilshan perished by slapping straight to midwicket, the first of Sri Lanka's giveaways. Sangakkara started pushing the ball into the gaps, even chipping down to loft Ravindra Jadeja over deep midwicket for a six.
Both Sangakkara and Jayawardene were visibly upset with themselves when they got out. When Pathan returned for a new spell, Jayawardene tried to disturb his rhythm by trying to dab one to third man. It resulted in a tame edge to Dhoni and his frustration was palpable. The pressure increased a touch on Sangakkara when Chandimal was bowled giving R Ashwin the charge, and his own attempt at giving his team the momentum in the 36th over caused Sri Lanka's steady fall.
A few clean blows by Nuwan Kulasekara and Farveez Maharoof gave Sri Lanka hope, but they couldn't get on top of Vinay Kumar and Pathan, who bowled with far greater control at the death than their opponents.
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