Sri Lanka beat Australia by 7 wickets to win World Cup on March 17, 1996; watch video

On March 17, 1996, Sri Lanka created history when y went onto lift ir maiden ICC Cricket World Cup title beating Australia in summit clash at Lahore. History favoured Australians, who had already lifted trophy back in 1987, while Sri Lanka had failed to get past group sts of competition before 1996 ICC Cricket World Cup. Under captaincy of Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lanka had a group of players who played brilliantly in  tournament to reach final.

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ICC Cricket World Cup: Sri Lanka vs Australia finals 

Along with explosive opening pairing of Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana, Sri Lanka had wicket-taking bowlers in form of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan making m a formidable unit. Sri Lanka finished group sts unbeaten and in kck-out sts, Lankans first beat England in quarter-final and n reached final after semi-final against hosts India was called off due to crowd trouble. Australia were considered favourites to win title before final at Lahore. But in final, it was Sri Lanka star Aravinda de Silva who put up a brilliant all-round show to take his team past finish line.

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In 1996 ICC Cricket World Cup final, Sri Lanka won toss and opted to bowl first. decision to bowl first backfired for Sri Lanka as bowlers allowed Australia to finish at 241/7 at end of ir 50 overs, Sri Lanka, in response, lost ir reliable openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana cheaply. Following early setback, Asanka Gurusinha (65) and Aravinda de Silva held fort and built a solid partnership to get ir team back in match. Shane Warne finished final without any wickets 

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Aravinda De Silva finished match with an unbeaten 107 and, with help from skipper Arjuna Ranatunga (47), sealed a memorable seven-wicket win with almost four overs to spare. This win was Sri Lanka’s only ICC Cricket World Cup win till date, while Australia went on to win ICC World Cricket World Cup on four occasions since i.e 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2015.

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