Asia Cup Cricket - @ Sri Lanka Final

MASTERS OF ASIA Nehra, Praveen And Karthik Shine As India Become Champions Beating SL By 81 Runs Dambulla: Ashish Nehra produced a dream spell of fast bowling in two overs to break the back of the Sri Lankan batting as India coasted to their first Asia Cup triumpoh in 15 years on Thursday. Sri Lanka, chasing a competitive 269 for a win under lights, lost their way as the Indian seamers made early inroads and got to a winning position by the 16ths over. Nehra's three wickets in the space of eight balls had done enough to give India a big win by 81 runs in the final.         Nehra started the rout in the 14th over, his second, sending back Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews. He added a well settled Sangakkara to his kitty in his third over as Sri Lanka slumped to 50 for five. Nehra'sfigures read 3-0-6-3 and only Kandamby and Kapugadera in the middle left to counter the Indians.          kandamby's run out after a 54 run stand with Kapugadera sent Sri Lanka out of the running and it was time for spinner jadeja to take control. Kapugadera made a painstaking 55 and remained unbeaten. Nehra had figures of four for 40 from nine overs. Earlier, in the Indian innings, around the 30th over, when skipper MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma were at the crease, India were literally crusing and looked good for a total of around 280 or more. But the moment Dhoni got out, to a callous shot off part-time bowler Thilina Kandamby, the Sri Lankan bowlers took control of the situation and restricted India to 268 for six.         Dinesh Karthik did play an important knock of 66, but the rest Virat Kohli (28), Dhoni (38 off 50 balls), Suresh Raina (29 off 31 balls) and Rohit Sharma (41 off 52 balls) - got into their twenties and thirties but got out just when they were needed to stay at the crease. Gambhir too departed for 15 when it mattered most.          India could muster only 34 runs in the batting Powerplay, lost the wicket of Rohit (41 off 52 balls) and struck only one four in the last 10 overs. Only two dismissals-that of Kokli and Raina-appeared to have been the result of some good bowleing, especially from Lasith Malinga. Other than that, the Indian batsmen threw away their wickets. But on the whole, the Indianbatting display was better than in the previous match at the same venue against the same opponents, where the visitors were all out for209.