Sri Lanka reached the World Cup final with a five-wicket win against New Zealand on Tuesday as veteran off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan said goodbye to his home crowd.
Sri Lanka, set a modest 218 to win, wobbled in the middle before reaching their target in 47.5 overs with Tillakaratne Dilshan (73) and skipper Kumar Sangakkara (54) setting the foundation at a packed R. Premadasa stadium.
Muralitharan took his 534th wicket off his last ball on home soil as New Zealand were bowled out for a below-par score of 217 in 48.5 overs.
Muralitharan, who last year retired from Tests after finishing as the highest wicket-taker with 800, now aims to win his second title – after being part of the 1996 Cup winning squad – in Saturday’s final in Mumbai.
Sri Lanka, cruising along at 160-1, lost four wickets in the space of 25 runs to raise fears of an unlikely defeat before Thilan Samaraweera (23 not out) and Angelo Mathews (14 not out) guided them home with an unbroken 35-run stand.
The victory took Sri Lanka into their second successive World Cup final, after finishing runners-up to Australia in 2007, as a capacity 35,000 celebrated with firecrackers.
Sri Lanka play the winners of Wednesday’s semi-final between India and Pakistan in Mohali.
Sri Lanka, set a modest 218 to win, wobbled in the middle before reaching their target in 47.5 overs with Tillakaratne Dilshan (73) and skipper Kumar Sangakkara (54) setting the foundation at a packed R. Premadasa stadium.
Muralitharan, who last year retired from Tests after finishing as the highest wicket-taker with 800, now aims to win his second title – after being part of the 1996 Cup winning squad – in Saturday’s final in Mumbai.
Sri Lanka, cruising along at 160-1, lost four wickets in the space of 25 runs to raise fears of an unlikely defeat before Thilan Samaraweera (23 not out) and Angelo Mathews (14 not out) guided them home with an unbroken 35-run stand.
The victory took Sri Lanka into their second successive World Cup final, after finishing runners-up to Australia in 2007, as a capacity 35,000 celebrated with firecrackers.
Sri Lanka play the winners of Wednesday’s semi-final between India and Pakistan in Mohali.
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