—Siraj took six wickets as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 50 runs
—Blue Shirts easily chase 50-run target in seventh over with no wicket loss
Sports Desk
India blew away Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2023 final on Sunday, first limiting the hosts to a mere 50 runs followed up by a fast-paced chase to secure their eighth Asia Cup title.
Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka after winning the toss opted to bat first, however, India’s Mohammad Siraj blew away the hosts by taking six wickets — four of which came in a single over — while conceding only 21 runs.
The match started with a delay of 40 minutes due to rain. The collapse started with Jasprit Bumrah removing Kusal Perera in the first over the game.
After the first wicket, it was all about Mohammad Siraj, who completed his fifer in his first three overs of the spell.
Apart from Siraj’s six-wicket haul, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah bagged three and one wickets each, leaving Sri Lanka bowled out at 50 in 15.2 overs.
Only two Sri Lankan batters managed to get into double figures, with Dushan Hemantha scoring an unbeaten 13 and Kusal Mendis adding another 17 runs.
This is the lowest total in the history of Asia Cup one-day international (ODI) history since the record was previously held by Bangladesh, who scored 87 runs against Pakistan back in 2000.
In response, Blue Shirts sailed through the 51-run target and completed the chase in 6.1 overs with 10 wickets in hand.
India’s openers Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill scored 23 and 27 runs respectively.
This is India’s seventh Asia Cup ODI title and eighth overall.
India’s Siraj bagged the Man of the Match award for his impressive match-winning performance. His six victims were Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarwickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananajaya de Silva and Dasun Shanaka.
Meanwhile, India’s Kuldeep Yadav won the Player of the Tournament award. The left-arm wrist spinner picked up nine wickets. He took a match-winning five-wicket haul against Pakistan, followed by a four-wicket haul against Sri Lanka to help India win two games in the Super 4 stage.
India’s Shubman Gill emerged as the top scorer in the tournament with 302 runs followed up by Sri Lanka’s Kusal Medis who scored 270 runs throughout the tournament.
Pakistan’s Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan secured fourth and fifth spots for their 207 and 195 runs respectively.
Separately, Sri Lanka’s Matheesha Pathirana bagged 11 wickets as the top wicket-taker of the tournament followed up by India’s Mohammad Siraj with his 10 wickets. Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridi secured the fourth spot in the bowlers ranking, the left-arm pacer took 10 wickets in the tournament.
Playing XI
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (c), Dunith Wellalage, Dushan Hemantha, Pramod Madushan, Matheesha Pathirana
