MS Dhoni led from the front as India defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets to secure their place in the final of the Asia Cup.

47th Over: Kulasekera in the attack. FOUR! Sharma carves that straight past the bowler. FOUR! Yuvraj Singh pulls powerfully to take India closer to the total. FOUR! Yuvraj hammers that to extra cover. And that is it. India storm into the final. India win by six wickets.

38th Over: Murali to Dhoni. WICKET! He has broken through the Indian captain's defence. Rohit Sharma walks into the middle. India are 253-4

36th Over: Dhoni plays Murali to fine leg. WICKET! Raina tries to go back to the danger end for an unnecessary third run is short of the crease. Yuvraj Singh is the new man in. India are 234-3

35th Over: FOUR! Dhoni reaches his second successive fifty as he drives Thushara through cover. Great innings skipper. Thats leading fron the front alright. India are 230-2

34th Over: Raina gets his second fifty of the STAR Cricket Asia Cup. Add two centuries to th list. FOUR! Dhoni plays it past the wicket keepr for a boundary. India are 217-2

21st Over: Gambhir on strike to Murali. WICKET! The wily off spinner has trapped Murali plumb in front of the wickets. MS Dhoni arrives at the crease. He would have seen a lot of Murali keeping him for Chennai Super Kings. Dhoni is off the mark. India are 136-2

19th Over: Muralitharan in the attack. Down the track comes Gambhir, only for a single to short mid on. Raina on strike. He was bowled for a golden duck on his debut off a 'doosra'.

15th Over: FOUR! Gambhir whacks it to mid wicket to bring up his fifty off 45 balls. Great innings. Raina gets back to the crease just in time. It could have been very close but Raina survives. India are 110-1

14th Over: India are cruising along now. The 100 is up for the team and Gambhir is looking set for a big one. Raina cracks it away through cover to pick up one. India are 101-1

12th Over: FOUR! Sehwag smashes that over mid wicket. What splendid swing of the bat. WICKET! Sehwag attempts to play it to fine leg but finds Fernando at short fine leg. Kulaskera the elated bowler. Suresh Raina is the new man in. FOUR! Raina pulls it off in style. India are 96-1

7th Over: Thushara replaces Fernando in the attack. Gambhir picks up a single to get Sehwag on strike. Sehwag gets his partner back on strike, also bringing up the fifty for India. Another single, a rather tight one. Good short one by Thushara. India are 51-0

6th Over: Kulasekera to cintinue. Gambhir and Sehwag have a very good understanding. SIX! Sehwag picks up a slowish delivery off the pads and with a little flick of his wrists, smashes that over mid wicket. India are 48-0

5th Over: FOUR! Gambhir whips it off his pads. Fernanado under pressure.A good change of pace to end the over. Six off the over. India are 40-0

3rd Over: FOUR! Sehwag joins the party. He tucks it off his hips and plays it towards fine leg. FOUR! Gambhir blasts that over point. Well done. India are 26-0

India, 1st OVER: Dlihara Fernando on his way to Gautam Gambhir. FOUR! Gambhir has cut that over slips. Beautifully done. FOUR! Gambhir slaps it pst backward point. India are 11-0

50th Over: Irfan to Thushara. A full toss but the tail ender fails to get hold. Just a single. SIX! Thushara blasts that over mid wicket. Superb shot. FOUR! This time Thushara drives it straight past the bowler. WICKET! Thusgara fails to make his ground and Dhoni collects a Gambhir thro from third man and whipes off the bails off. Murali to face the last ball. Sri Lanka end with 308-8

46th Over: WICKET! RP came in with a brilliant throw from the deep, getting rid of Chamara Silva, who reached his fifty in the last over. Sri Lanka lose another set batsman at a crucial point. Thushara is the new man in. He is off the mark. FOUR! Weeraratne reaches for a widish ball and pierces it between point and third man. Sri Lanka are 269-6

43rd Over: WICKET! Pathan strikes at last. Dilshan skies one high in the air and RP takes a smart catch near the fence. Weeraratne is the new man in. Sri Lanka are 245-5

38th Over: Praveen Kumar to Kapegedera. The middle order batsman has been on fire today. WICKET! Kumar has rapped him on the pads and a loud appeal for lbw has been upheld by the umpire. Tillekaratne Dilshan is the new man in. Sri Lanka are 217-4

27th Over: Ojha to Jayawardene, who has just scored his fifty. WICKET! The Lankan skipper tonks it right down the throat of Gautam Gambhir at mid wicket. The elegant right hander is livid. He throws it away yet again just when he looked set for a big one. Good news for India though. The new batsman is Chamara Silva. Sri Lanka are 149-3

20th Over: Irfan continues. He has been a major disappointment so far. FOUR! Jayawardene smashes it through square of the wicket. Good blow. Sri Lanka are 115-2

19th Over: Praveen Kumar into the attack. Kapugedera tries to power it past point but Suresh Raina is brilliant at that position. Just a single. FOUR! Jayawardene blasts that through mid wicket. FOUR! Jayawardene is on fire. He steers it through the off side. Sri Lanka are 109-2

18th Over: FOUR! Kapugedera smacks Irfan Pathan through square. Pathan under pressure. The 100 comes up for Sri Lanka. Six off the over. Sri Lanka are 100-2

12th Over: Sharma on his way to Jayasuriya. WICKET! He nicks one, chasing a wide one down the leg side and Dhoni is alert to the situation again. India are cock-a-hoop. Chamara Kapugedera is the new man in. FOUR! He is off the mark with a superb shot, driving it through extra cover. Sri Lanka are 75-2

4th Over: Sharma steams into Jayasuriya. Right on the ball again, cramping him for room. Jayasuriya gets Sanga on strike. The Lankan wicketkeeper picks up two. WICKET! Sangakkara tries to chase a wide, short one outside the leg stump and Dhoni takes a sensationa catch to send the danger man back. The Indian team erupts in joy. The 150th dismissal for Dhoni. Jaywardene is the new man in. He is off the mark. And he is off the mark. Sri Lanka are 17-1

3rd Over: RP to continue. He needs to get back to rhythm very soon. The margin of error would be minimum on this surface. That was a good short one by RP. Another tight over. Sri Lanka are 13-0

2nd Over: Ishant Sharma into the attack. Sangakkara on strike. And the lanky bowler works up some pace right away. Whew! That one seems to have caught Sanga right on the money. FOUR! An outside edge from Sanga's blade and the ball races away to the third man fence. Good over by Sharma. Sri Lanka are 10-0

Sri Lanka, 1st OVER: RP Singh on his way to Sanath Jayasuriya. And he is away with a single. Sangakkara taps one inside the rings and runs for all money. He is off the mark too. That was a beauty. RP squared Jayasuriya all ends up. Four leg byes. Sri Lanka are 6-0

The Toss

Sri Lankan captain won the toss and promptly chose to bat first on a flat Karachi track. He told STAR Cricket: "This has been a good track for us and we have a couple of spinners, who can pile up the pressure later."

Jayawardene sent out clear signals that his team would go all out for a win today: "The attitude is to win and the guys need to keep proving themselves."

However, Sri Lanka have left out Chaminda Vaas and Ajantha Mendis, bringing in Dilhara Fernando and Kaushalya Weeraratne.

Indian skipper MS Dhoni is as always quietly confident of India's chances: "We have to think out of the box and keep playing our game."

India have left out Piyush Chawla and Yusuf Pathan and included RP Singh and Pragyan Ojha instead.

Dhoni believes the picth might slow down later as the game progresses.

Well, the stage is all set for a big clash. India will remember Sri Lanka were the team who smoked them out of the 2007 World Cup when the islanders defaeted them by 69 runs in Port-of-Spain. They would want to not let Jayawardene's boys have the pleasure again.

The Teams

India: Virender Sehwag, G Gambhir, RG Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (capt & wk), SK Raina, IK Pathan, P Kumar, PP Ojha, RP Singh, I Sharma

Pakistan: Sanath Jayasuriya, KC Sangakkara (wk), DPMD Jayawardene (capt), CK Kapugedera, LPC Silva, TM Dilshan, KMDN Kulasekara, MTT Mirando, CRD Fernando, K Weeraratne, M Muralitharan