Yesterday was the final of the Asia Cup and this match was highly anticipated because the 2 top teams in Asia were playing against each other as it was India vs Sri Lanka. Both these teams have had to win matches to get into the final and the fans in the stadium were mostly Sri Lankan and they had come to see their team win the trophy. However what happened during the next 2+ hours is something that no Sri Lankan fan will ever forget.
Let’s look at this Final which was nothing short of staggering
India decimate Sri Lanka in the Final
Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and he decided to bat first and by looking at the pitch it looked like a good decision. However as soon as the batting for Sri Lanka started it got clear that India were fortunate that they lost the Toss. Sri Lanka lost their first wicket within the first 3 balls of the match at 1-1. The second over of the match was where Mohammad Siraj bowled the over of his life and the match was over in that 6 balls. Mohammad Siraj took 4 wickets in the second over. He first took the wicket of Pathum Nissanka then Sadeera Samarawickrama then Charith Asalanka and finally Dhananjaya De Silva and the score was 12-5 at the end of the second over. Yet again Mohammad Siraj took the 6th wicket for 12 runs and his 5 wicket haul. Mohammad Siraj bowled 7 overs on the trot and he took 6 wickets for 21 runs and Hardik Pandya finished the innings by getting the last 3 wickets and getting Sri Lanka all out for just 50 runs.
This performance was shocking for everyone as the home fans were stunned into silence by the absolutely terrific bowling by Mohammad Siraj and the Indian fast bowlers and anger towards the Sri Lankan batters. The Indian fans watching at home were shocked because they did not expect the team to be so dominant in the final. Sri Lanka played a total of 15.2 overs meaning 92 balls and still 35 overs were left. This was the lowest score on a tournament Final and India were looking to finish the match quickly. Rohit Sharma decided that he will not come out to open so he sent Ishan Kishan to open with Shubman Gill so that they can have runs under their belt.
India only needed 51 runs to win this match and the openers were in a hurry as they hit 9 fours in total which means 36 out of the 51 runs were scored in boundaries alone. They only took 6.1 overs to finish the match and Shubman Gill made 27 from 19 balls and he hit 6 fours in his innings and Ishan Kishan made 23 from 16 balls and he hit 3 fours. Shubman Gill had a strike rate of 142 and Ishan Kishan had a strike rate of 128 in this match. India won the match with 263 balls remaining which is their biggest win in ODI Cricket as far as balls remaining goes and they won the match by 10 wickets. The Indian team could not have asked for anything on this day because the match that they got was something that they will not likely get moving forward till the World Cup. Team India win their 8th Asia Cup title which is the most out of all the teams who play in this tournament.
