Once Again Sri Lanka Through to Final

Dhaka - Sri Lanka stormed into the World T20 final, thrashing defending champions West Indies as per Duckworth Lewis method at the Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Thursday.

This will be Sri Lanka's 5th ICC World Cup final in seven years.

Chasing 161, West Indies were 80/4 in 13.5 overs and 27 runs behind Sri Lanka in D/L before heavy hailstorm stopped the play.

Nuwan Kulasekara got rid of Dwayne Bravo after his fighting knock to give Windies fourth blow at the score of 77 in the 14th over during their chase of 161.

Bravo made 30 off 19 deliveries and shared 43-run stand for the fourth wicket to keep West Indies' hope alive after initial setback.

Under pressure to accelerate the scoring rate, Bravo hit Kulasekara towards square leg to give an easy catch to Mahela Jayawardene.

Chasing 161, West Indies were in tight spot by Sri Lanka as they lost three for just 34 in 7.1 overs.

After a decent 25-run opening stand, Lasith Malinga bowled out both openers Chris Gayle (3) and Dwayne Smith (17) in the fifth over.

Gayle got thick inside edge of Malinga's swinger that roll over to stumps.

Smith who was appearing dangerous too failed to read Malinga's deadly bowl that went right through him and hit the stumps, reducing West Indies to 28/2.

In the eighth over, Seekkuge Prasanna trapped Lendl Simmons (4) in front of wicket, giving Lanka total control.

Earlier, Lahiru Thirimanne arrested a top-order slide while Angelo Mathews played a lovely cameo as Sri Lanka posted a fighting 160 for six against defending champions.

Thirimanne scored 44 off 35 balls while Mathews blasted his way in the final two overs smashing 40 off only 23 balls. Veteran opener Tillakaratne Dilshan (39) did not convert a good start while other two seniors Mahela Jayawardene (0) and Kumar Sangakkara (1) did not even get going.

Mathews scored 32 runs in the final two overs bowled by Krishmar Santokie and Andre Russell to get Sri Lanka. Mathews had three fours and two sixes in his knock.

The Lankan openers gave a flying start to the innings, getting 32 off the first three overs. It was one such day when opening bowlers Santokie (2/46 in 4 overs) and Samuel Badree (1/23 in 4 overs) did not get the length right in the initial overs. Badree, however, did well in the second spell.

After an uppishly driven boundary by Dilshan off Badree past mid-off, young Kusal Perera (26) got stuck into Santokie hitting him for two boundaries in the second over. First was a swing past deep fine leg as he bowled it on pads, the second was picked from outside the off-stump and hit over mid-wicket.

In Badree's next over, both Dilshan and Perera used their feet as they hit the leggie for a six each. Perera looked in great touch as he dispatched a Santokie length ball over long-on for his second six as 41 runs were added in 3.5 overs before the left-arm seamer got lucky.

Earlier, Sri Lanka have won the toss and have opted to bat.

One change for Sri Lanka -- Thisara Thisara has been replaced by Seekkuge Prasanna.

No changes to West Indies team.

Teams

West Indies - Dwayne Smith, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Bravo, Dinesh Ramdin (wk), Darren Sammy (captain), AD Russell, Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree, Krishmar Santokie

Sri Lanka - Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kushal Janith Perera, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Seekkuge Prasanna, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga (Capt.), Sachithra Senanayake, Rangana Herath

Brief scores
Sri Lanka - 160/6 (Thirimanne 44, Mathews 40, Dilshan 39)
West Indies - 80/4 (target 108 in 13.5 ov)
Result - Sri Lanka won by 27 runs (D/L method)