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Superb Dilshan sends Sri Lanka into final

  • Story Highlights
  • Sri Lanka crush West Indies by 57 runs to reach the final of World Twenty20
  • Tillekeratne Dilshan scores 96 for Sri Lanka, the highest score of tournament
  • Sri Lanka now go into Sunday's final against Pakistan unbeaten in six games
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(CNN) -- A superb innings of 96 from Tillekeratne Dilshan sent Sri Lanka into Sunday's World Twenty20 final with an emphatic 57-run semifinal victory over West Indies at The Oval on Friday.

Dilshan's superb innings of 96, the highest of the tournament, sent Sri Lanka in the World Twenty20 final.

Dilshan's superb innings of 96, the highest of the tournament, sent Sri Lanka in the World Twenty20 final.

Opener Dilshan faced only 57 balls in his knock, the highest of the tournament to date and third-highest total in Twenty20 international history, as he led Sri Lanka to 158 for five having been inserted in by West Indies captain Chris Gayle.

It took his tally for the tournament to 317 runs in six matches, the most in the competition, and set up a meeting with Pakistan at Lord's on Sunday -- three months after Sri Lanka's team bus was attacked by terrorists in Lahore on its way to the Gaddafi Stadium for the second Test.

The finale to the competition is bound to be emotional for both sides, but particularly so for Sri Lanka after several of their players suffered injuries in the attack.

The West Indies were always up against it on Friday as three wickets from Angelo Mathews in the first over of their reply, at the cost of a single run, put Sri Lanka firmly in control.

Muttiah Muralitharan weighed in with three wickets of his own while Ajantha Mendis recorded remarkable figures of 4-0-9-2 as the Windies were bowled out for just 101 -- only five runs more than Dilshan scored on his own.

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Afterwards the match, captain Sangakkara was full of praise for Dilshan, telling reporters: "I've run out of superlatives to describe him. He's been a pioneering strokemaker in the T20 World Cup.

"The best thing about him is over the past year-and-a-half is he has understood his role, he has become very responsible and very mature, and has finally come to understand just how just good he is."

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