Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by five wickets at the Premadasa Stadium. Sri Lanka will play the winner of the second semi-final between India and Pakistan (at Mohali on Wednesday) in the final in Mumbai on 2 April.
Batting first New Zealand posted 217 in 48.5 overs. In its reply, Sri Lanka ended at 220 for 5 in 47.5 overs.
New Zealand lost wickets at regular intervals before Scott Styris (57: 77b, 5x4) held the innings together with a fine effort. Styris added 77 runs for the fourth wicket with Ross Taylor (36) to revive the New Zealand innings.
Among the others, only Martin Guptill (39) and Kane Williamson (22) made notable contributions.
For Sri Lanka, Lasith Malinga (3-55), Ajantha Mendis (3-35) and Muttiah Muralidaran (2-42) shared the wickets around.
In its reply, Sri Lanka lost Upul Tharanga early. But Tillakaratne Dilshan (73: 93b, 10x4, 1x6) and Kumar Sangakkara (54: 79b, 7x4, 1x6) shared a 120-run stand to put the chase back on track.
But Sri Lanka soon slipped from 160 for 1 to 169 for 4 and lost Chamara Silva soon after cheaply. At 185 for 5, the chase appeared to be in the balance.
But an injured Angelo Mathews came out and batted with aggression to push Sri Lanka to a place in the final for the second successive time.
Experienced batsman Thilan Samaraweera (23) kept his cool as he shared an unbeaten 35 run stand for the sixth wicket with Mathews to book Sri Lanka's date in the final.
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