India almost won the match in the first innings. In the second innings, only formalities remained. The Indian openers did not take much time to complete the formalities. India became the champion of the Asia Cup by winning the final match with just 6 overs 1 ball.
India beat Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the Asia Cup final on Sunday (September 17). India restricted the Lankans to 50 runs at the start. In response, India reached the port of victory with 263 balls in hand.
With this victory, India broke five years of regret in the Asia Cup. Rohit Sharma's team became the champion again after 2018. This is India's eighth Asia Cup title overall. No other team has won the title so many times in Asia's best competition. India won a new record by winning 37 balls. This is the record for winning the final match with the fewest balls in any format of international cricket.
After losing the toss and batting, the Lankans were disoriented by the Indian pacers at the beginning. Kushal Perera was dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah in the first over. He returned with a catch behind the wicket in the second ball of the innings. The match went completely to one side in the fourth over of the Sri Lankan innings. In this one over of Siraj, India completely knocked the Lankans out of the match. In this over, Mohammad Siraj returned the 4 top order batsmen of the Lankans and destroyed their batting line.
First ball of the over starts with Pathum Nisanka. The Lankan opener caught Jadeja's hand while lightly pushing the length ball outside the off stump. Sadira Samarawickrama, who batted brilliantly throughout the tournament, was lbw by Siraj in the third ball of the over.
Charith Ashalanka was sent back by Siraj after dismissing Samarawickrama. He also created a hat-trick opportunity. However, the right-handed pacer took four again with that ball. But in the last ball of the over, Siraj took the wicket again, this time Dhananjaya de Silva.
In the next over, Siraj took five wickets for the first time in his ODI career by sending back Dasun Shanaka. His celebration after bowling Shanaka was a sight to behold. He celebrated football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo's famous 'Siuu'.
After losing 6 wickets for 12 runs, Kushal Mendis and Dunith Vellalaghe tried to put up a light resistance. But Siraj broke the pair by returning Kushal. Hardik Pandya took the last three wickets of the Lankans. In between, he returned Pathirana and Pramod Madushan with two consecutive balls. Sri Lanka stopped at 50 runs.
Siraj bowled his career best with 6 wickets for 21 runs. This is the fourth best ODI bowling figure among Indian cricketers. Earlier, Jasprit Bumrah, Stuart Binny and Anil Kumble also got 6 wickets each in the same innings. However, they are ahead in the list by giving less runs than Siraj.
The two Indian openers Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan attacked the Lankan bowlers right from the start. Rohit Sharma's team reached the target without any danger in the pair of 51 runs. Shubman scored 27 runs off 19 balls. Kishan was unbeaten on 23 off 18 balls.
486.080 SRY