Live updates from the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final being played between India and Sri Lanka at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff.

INDIA innings:

Over 35 || Score 182/2 

India’s dream run continued as they defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets. Virat Kohli played some magnificent strokes, as expected he was brilliant against Malinga and Suresh Raina worked a short ball over fine leg for a boundary which were the winning runs. These two have added 40 runs for the fourth wicket off just 19 balls.

Virat Kohli 58* (64b) Suresh Raina 7* (4b)

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Over 30 || Score 133/1 

Kohli and Dhawan continue to dominate the game. Every now and then they are scoring boundaries off loose deliveries. The partnership has swollen to 56 runs and the match looks a formality unless the Lankan bowlers pick a few wickets in quick successions.

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Over 25 || Score 104/1 

After Sharma’s dismissal Dhawan is in the process of stitching another partnership with Virat Kohli. These two have added 27 runs for the second wicket and Dhawan is now just two runs away from his half-century, another stupendous knock.

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Over 20 || Score 87/1 

Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews got the first breakthrough for his side as Rohit Sharma shimmied down the track off a slower ball that moved in and hit the stumps. The dismissal ended the 77-run partnership for the first wicket. Virat Kohli who has an excellent record against Sri Lanka, comes to the crease.

RG Sharma b Mathews 33 (50b)

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Over 15 || Score 68/0 

While the Lankans are still searching for their first breakthrough, this opening pair has entered the history books. Dhawan-Sharma is now the only duo to have produced four successive half-century partnerships in ODIs. These two are having an incredible run at the moment and it is because of their opening partnership that India have looked so formidable right through this tournament.

Shikhar Dhawan 31* (50b) Rohit Sharma 29* (40b)

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Over 10 || Score 40/0 

And the domination by the Indian openers continue as they add 19 more runs to the total. None of the Lankan bowlers have managed to trouble these two so far and they have laid a solid foundation for the batsmen to follow.

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Over 5 || Score 21/0 

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have got India to a decent start by adding 21 runs in the first five overs. The required run-rate shouldn’t be an issue and these two are looking good at the crease.

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SRI LANKA innings:

Over 50 || Score 181/8 

How bad their batting today was can be ascertained from the fact that a limping Dilshan came to the crease after the fall of seventh wicket, a dismissal where Kulasekara was bowled round the legs by Ashwin. Sri Lanka scored 181 runs by the end of 50 overs and their bowlers need to do something really special to defend this paltry total. 

Earlier Angelo Mathews was dropped by Virat Kohli at long-on off Ashwin’s bowling. Kohli misjudged the catch and grassed it even though it fell well inside the ropes. Mathews couldn’t make much of this chance as he skied another catch a ball later which was comfortably taken by Bhuvneshwar Kumar at covers. Mendis was the last wicket to fall as he shimmied down the track and was stumped by Dhoni.

BMAJ Mendis st Dhoni b Ashwin 25 (35b)

KMDN Kulasekara b Ashwin 1 (3b)

NLTC Perera c Dhawan b I Sharma 0 (4b)

AD Mathews c Kumar b Ashwin 51 (89b)

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Over 45 || Score 154/4 

Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews scored a much-needed half century when his team needed it the most. He will have to do the most of the scoring from here onwards. With Kulasekara and Perera still to come, Sri Lanka can fancy their chances of reaching the 200-run mark.

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Over 40 || Score 127/4 

The 78-run partnership between Mahela and Mathews finally ended when Mahela was bowled by Jadeja. It was a quicker delivery from Jadeja as Mahela was looking to work it down towards midwicket, missed the line and the stumps were shattered. Mahela has stabilised the innings to some extent along with Mathews but their run-rate is low and Mathews will have to accelerate the innings. Jeevan Mendis joins him at the crease. 12 runs scored in the last five overs, one wicket lost.

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Over 35 || Score 115/3 

Mahela and Mathew continue to do the good job as India continue to search for their fourth breakthrough. Another DRS saved Sri Lanka when Mathews was given out lbw off Jadeja, Mathews went for the review and the hawk-eye showed that the ball was missing the stumps, the height factor saved the Lankan skipper and DRS twice went against India. The partnership between these two is now of 74 runs.

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Over 30 || Score 92/3 

Mathews and Jayawardene continued to stitch a crucial partnership, both of them dealing in singles and are looking unperturbed at the crease. They have now added 51 runs for the fourth wicket and this partnership to an extent is now hurting India. 

Angelo Mathews 25* (38b) Mahela Jayawardene 25* (45b)

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Over 25 || Score 72/3 

Mahela and the Lankan skipper have begun the rescue work for their team and have added 31 runs for the fourth wicket so far. Surprisingly MS Dhoni is bowling and he almost got the wicket of Mahela who was declared out by the umpire but then Jayawardene reviewed the decision and was not-out. 25 runs scored in the last five overs, no wickets lost.

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Over 20 || Score 47/3 

Thirimanne was the next batsman to be dismissed as he edged one from Ishant Sharma that went towards second slip and Raina dived to his left and took another good low catch. Mahela Jayawardene is the new batsman at the crease and this is going to be a crucial partnership between the two stalwarts of Sri Lankan cricket. Sri Lanka suffered a major blow when Kumar Sangakkara too edged one towards second slip where Suresh Raina took his third catch of the match. Eleven runs scored in the last five overs, two wickets lost.

KC Sangakkara c Raina b I Sharma 17 (44b)

HDRL Thirimanne c Raina b I Sharma 7 (31b)

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Over 15 || Score 36/1 

The seamers continue to trouble and just ten runs have been added in the last five overs. Sri Lanka need a partnership here and Sanga has so far added 19 runs with Thirimanne.

Kumar Sangakkara 13* (39b) Lahiru Thirimanne (b)

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Over 10 || Score 26/1 

Both the seamers are consistently troubling Kumar Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne. They both are looking vulnerable at the crease against some quality seam bowling. Just eight runs added in the last five overs.

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Over 5 || Score 18/1 

Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck early in the innings when he invited Kusal Perera for a drive which he went for and edged it to Raina at second slip. Dishan smashed two boundaries in Umesh Yadav’s second over before he walked off the field in the next over as he had problems completing a single. 18 runs came in the first five overs which has been highly dominated by the Indians.

MDKJ Perera c Raina b Kumar 4 (8b)

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Toss: India have won the toss and elected to field first. 

Two changes for Sri Lanka, Dinesh Chandimal and Shaminda Eranga have been left out. Thisara Perera and Jeevan Mendis are in. 

India, on the other hand, have named an unchanged side.

Teams:

India (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav

Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Kushal Janith Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara(w), Mahela Jayawardene, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews(c), Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Rangana Herath, Lasith Malinga

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After inspection, umpires have decided that the toss will take place at 10.40 am (local time) and play will start at 11.00am (local time).

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Toss delayed due to rain: The weather was pretty poor at Cardiff in the morning but things have cleared up. The outfield is in very poor condition and the toss will be delayed. There will be an inspection at 10 AM local time.

Remember, if there is no play possible today, then India will progress to the final as they topped the group.

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Preview: Having confidently made it to the last-four stage, India will be looking to put up yet another clinical performance in their semi-final match in Cardiff. However, MS Dhoni`s side will encounter stiff competition from Sri Lanka, who have consistently entered finals of various major ICC events over the past few years.

India: In this Champions Trophy: India started their campaign with a 26-run win against South Africa in a high-scoring encounter before easing past West Indies by 8 wickets with 10.5 overs to spare in their second match to qualify for the semis. Following that, they extended their unbeaten run with a comfortable 8-wicket win with 2.5 overs to spare in a rain-affected tie against arch-rivals Pakistan.

Team form: The Indian team have by far been the most consistent team in this Champions Trophy. Not only have they won all their matches - 2 warm-up matches and 3 league games - but the manner in which they have overcome their opponents makes them the team to beat in this edition of the tournament. While India`s batting has been their strong suit for quite some time now, the reason for their continued success in this edition of the Champions Trophy has much to do with their fielding, which has been top-notch and bowling, which has been tight and disciplined more often than not.

Strong performances from openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have more than made up for the absence of big names such as Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir at the top of the order. Dhawan has been in the form of his life, smashing back-to-back centuries before helping himself to a quick-fire 48 against Pakistan. The mercurial Rohit, too, looks like he is finally making his presence felt in the international arena with a degree of consistency - he has scored consecutive fifties in the sub-continent side`s first two matches.

Dhawan and Sharma apart, Dinesh Karthik has played a couple of useful knocks, following his successive hundreds in the warm-up matches, and been there at the end in two out of three games India has won. While Dhoni will be happy with the form of these three batters, he will want Virat Kohli to get amongst the runs soon - the number three batsman is yet to make a fifty in the tournament. The Indian middle order, which comprises Suresh Raina, Dhoni, and Ravindra Jadeja, has been given the opportunity to bat only once in this edition of the tournament; the team will hope these three are up to the task if and when they are called on to bail out the team.

Jadeja, apart from contributing with his fielding skills in all games and a crucial, quickfire knock of 47 runs in the match against South Africa, has been India`s top wicket-taker. The left-arm spinner, who has been in tremendous form, is the only one with a five-wicket haul in the tournament so far and is just two wickets shy of Mitchell McClenaghan (11 wickets), who has the most scalps. While Jadeja has been India`s most effective bowler, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravichandran Ashwin have also done reasonably well. However, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav have not been as potent, which is the only source of worry as far as India are concerned.

Player-watch:

Virat Kohli has got starts in all the three matches that India have played, but has failed to convert them into big scores. The one-drop batsman will be keen to make amends and he couldn`t have asked for a better opponent to do it against than Sri Lanka - Kohli has 1386 runs against them in ODIs at an average of over 55 with 7 fifties and five hundreds.

Team News: India do not have any injury concerns at the present time and are unlikely to tinker with their winning combination.

Likely XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav.

Sri Lanka:

In this Champions Trophy: After losing a low-scoring thriller against New Zealand by a wicket in their opening game, Sri Lanka bounced back with a commanding seven-wicket victory against hosts England. In their third match, they survived some anxious moments to overcome Australia by 20 runs and make it to the knock-out stage.

Team form: Sri Lanka did not get off to the kind of start they would have hoped for, suffering an agonizing one-wicket loss at the hands of the Black Caps, despite a spirited bowling performance. The loss might have acted as a catalyst, for Sri Lanka re-grouped quickly to register back-to-back wins.

Sri Lanka`s batting has revolved around the experienced trio of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, and Tillakaratne Dilshan. The wicket-keeper batsman proved his worth, scoring a defiant 68 against New Zealand before producing a match-winning 134 against England. Mahela also showed why he is considered a key batsman in the Lankan set-up with a classy 84 against Australia. Dilshan, too, has had a few useful outings, despite not being able to make a truly big contribution thus far.

Sri Lanka will also be happy with the middle-order after the likes of Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal spent some quality time in their last game against Australia, with Thirimanne scoring a fine half-century. The concern for Sri Lanka is the form of Kusal Perera at the top of the order and skipper Angelo Mathews` returns with the bat and ball.

Coming to the bowlers, Lasith Malinga has been Sri Lanka`s top-wicket taker in the tourney and Nuwan Kulasekara has provided him good support. What`s more Kulasekara also contributed a match-winning knock with the bat against England. Rangana Herath and Dilshan have been adequate if not spectacular in the spin department. Sri Lanka`s main worry is Shaminda Eranga, who has gone for over six runs per over in the tournament.

Player to watch: Mahela Jayawardene has found form at the right time as far as Sri Lanka are be concerned. The experienced right-hander is known to produce big knocks in crucial games, and he will be eager to make his presence felt against India. Having scored over 2000 runs in 77 matches against the sub-continent rivals, Mahela will keen to add more to his runs tally against India.

Team News: Like India, Sri Lanka too do not have any injury problems to worry about and will, in all likelihood, not make any changes to the line-up that got them into the semi-final.

Likely XI: Kusal Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Lahiru Thirimanne, Mahela Jayawardene, Angelo Mathews (c), Dinesh Chandimal, Nuwan Kulasekara, Rangana Herath, Lasith Malinga, Shaminda Eranga.

Pitch and weather: A fresh new track has been laid by the Glamorgan ground staff at Sophia Gardens for the semi-final and chief curator Keith Exton reckons 280 should be a par score. As far as the weather is concerned, overcast conditions are expected, with rain showers also being predicted. In case of a wash-out, the topper of the Group stage will progress to the final, which will be India in this case.

Numbers game : 

5: The number of centuries scored by Virat Kohli against Sri Lanka. The right-hander has scored 1386 runs against Sri Lanka at an average of 55.44 and has also hit 7 fifties. 33% of Kohli`s ODI runs tally has come against the Lankans.

3: the number of catches Mahela Jayawardene needs to take to become the first to reach the mark of 200 in ODI cricket. The former Lankan skipper is 37 clear of Ricky Ponting, who is in second place.

0 and 0: The head-to-head stats between India and Sri Lanka in Champions Trophy. The only two occasions these two sides played each other - in 2002 - both games were washed out and India and Sri Lanka were declared joint-winners.

Teams: 

India (From) : Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni(w/c), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Irfan Pathan, Murali Vijay, Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar

Sri Lanka (From): Kushal Janith Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara(w), Mahela Jayawardene, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews(c), Lahiru Thirimanne, Rangana Herath, Shaminda Eranga, Lasith Malinga, Thisara Perera, Jeevan Mendis, Sachithra Senanayake, Chanaka Welegedara

Source: Zee News