Kulasekara, batsmen lead Sri Lanka to Road Safety World Series final

Nuwan Kulasekara picked up his best figures in T20 cricket and the Sri Lanka batsmen backed up well, as they defeated South Africa quite comfortably in the second semi-final of the Road Safety World Series on Friday on Raipur.

The eight-wicket victory means Sri Lanka will now play hosts India in the championship game on Sunday in Mumbai, 09:30h Caribbean time.

South Africa, inserted to take first strike, were cruising at 80-2 in the 12^th over, before a monumental collapse, engineered by right-arm seamer Kulasekara, saw them being dismissed for only 125.

Kulasekara, who picked up 313 wickets in 263 games across formats for Sri Lanka in international cricket, bagged 5-25 off his four overs, and received support from Sanath Jayasuriya (1-12), Kaushalya Weeraratne (1-12) and Fareveez Maharoof (1-18).

Only three batsmen reached double-figures for South Africa: Opener Morne van Wyk made 53 off 47, Alviro Petersen a run-a-ball 27 and Justin Kemp 15.

Sri Lanka, in reply, lost openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Jayasuriya, both for 18, before Upul Tharanga and Chinthaka Jayasinghe closed out the contest with an unbroken partnership of 70 in eight overs.

Jayasinghe struck eight fours and a six in 47* off 25, and Tharanga finished on 39 off 44 (5x4s).

India, on Wednesday, booked their place in the final, beating West Indies by 12 runs after making 218.