The Indian cricket team silenced its critics with a commanding performance in the continent’s premier cricketing event, just when the critics had started sharpening their knives, after the failures in the West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Indiastarted off with a seven-wicket win over Bangladesh. Batting first, Shakib-Al-Hasan’s team was well-placed at 81-1, when Ashish Nehra initiated a dramatic collapse. Virender Sehwag then assumed the mantle of the destroyer – for a change, with the ball – and finished with remarkable figures of 2.5-0-6-4. Gautam Gambhir (83) and Dhoni (38) batted solidly, and India overhauled the modest target of 168 with nearly twenty overs to spare, and earned a bonus point.

India’s next game was a do-or-die affair for their traditional rivals. Pakistan had lost their opening game to Sri Lanka, and therefore needed a win to stay afloat. Shahid Afridi and his men made all the right moves, batting first and scoring 267. The Pakistanis had history on their side as well, with the previous highest successful chase at the Rangiri International Stadium, Dambulla (the venue of all the Asia Cup matches) being 221. India suffered a setback when Sehwag strained a hamstring, and fell soon after. Dhoni and Gambhir added 98 for the third wicket, before the latter was bowled by off-spinner Saeed Ajmal. Rohit Sharma started well, but was trapped leg-before by Afridi at just the wrong time from the Indian viewpoint. When Dhoni swept Shoaib Malik onto his stumps, the Pakistanis were jubilant. From cruising at one stage, India now required 58 off 46 balls, with five wickets in hand.

Ravindra Jadeja fell soon after India had taken the Batting Powerplay. Harbhajan Singh, the new man, and Suresh Raina struck some telling blows, and brought the equation down to seven off the final over. Raina was run out off the second ball, but Praveen Kumar struck a two and then a single, to bring Harbhajan back on strike, with three needed off two. The penultimate ball of the match, bowled by Mohammed Aamer landed just short of a length and reared, at just the right height for the batsman. Harbhajan opened his shoulders, and deposited the ball over the mid-wicket fence, to book his team’s berth in the final.

The dress rehearsal for the final between India and Sri Lanka was a memorable encounter for Farvez Maharoof. The right-arm seamer took a hattrick, dismissing Jadeja, Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan off consecutive deliveries. India, who were 189-4 at one stage, were bowled out for 209. Sri Lanka won by seven wickets.

Everything was in Sri Lanka’s favour at the start of the final; they had beaten India in the previous two Asia Cup finals, and they were playing at home to boot. But India could take heart from the fact that they had beaten Sri Lanka in their last final in the country, in October 2009 (Compaq Cup).

Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat. His teammates justified their captain’s decision with some steady batting, although only Dinesh Karthik, who had been flown in for the last two matches as a replacement to Sehwag, crossed fifty. 268-6 was what the visitors finished with.

The Sri Lankans were then jolted by a superlative bowling performance. Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra capitalized on the lively track and the evening breeze, to reduce the defending champions to 51-5. That effectively ended the contest. Chamara Kapugedera fought hard for his fifty, but he kept losing partners, even as the required rate kept climbing. Jadeja ended the game in the 45th over, when he had Muralitharan caought behind. Dhoni had a memorable game behind the stumps, with four catches and one stumping. It was an Asia Cup record.

It was India’s first Asia Cup win since 1995. Coming as it does only seven months before the World Cup, the triumph augurs well for Indian cricket.