Dominant Siraj Leads India to Victory in Lopsided Asia Cup Final 2023

India defeated Sri Lanka 50 (Siraj 6-21, Pandya 3-3) by 10 wickets with 51 for 0 (Gill 27*, Kishan 23*).

Following a few close matches, it appeared as though the 2023 Asia Cup would have a dramatic conclusion. However, Mohammed Siraj’s decisive victory over Sri Lanka in the championship match was an anti-climax. Along with one in the T20 format in 2016, it was India’s sixth 50-over Asia Cup victory.

Siraj was able to spin the new ball about in cloudy circumstances, finishing with 6 for 21, which is the fourth-best ODI total for India. He shared the fastest five-for in ODI history with USA’s Ali Khan and Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas, taking just 16 balls to claim his first five wickets.

Consequently, only two of Sri Lanka’s batters scored more than ten runs, and they were all out for fifty, their second-lowest ODI total. The innings was the seventh shortest in the history of ODIs, lasting just 15.2 overs in total.

In reply, it took just 6.1 overs for Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan—who were opening the innings in Rohit Sharma’s place—to finish the formalities. Between them, the first two Indian batsmen hit nine fours; all of Sri Lanka’s batters combined scored five.

On what he described as “a dry wicket”, Rohit Sharma admitted that he had also desired to bat first after losing the toss. However, it began to rain five minutes before the planned start time. Maybe that made all the difference in the world.

After forty minutes of waiting, the game eventually began, and Jasprit Bumrah managed to get the ball to move in both directions. After his third delivery, Kusal Perera was caught off guard. From the other end, Sri Lanka was going to receive an even harsher jolt.

Siraj began the over with a maiden and four times over Kusal Mendis’ outside edge. His next innings yielded four wickets. The first person to leave was Pathum Nissanka, who pushed a length delivery uppishly towards the backward point, where Ravindra Jadeja swooped low to his right and pouched it with both hands.

Siraj trapped Sadeera Samarawickrama leg before wicket after two balls, and then Charith Asalanka chipped one to cover right after that. The hat-trick ball was avoided by Dhananjaya de Silva. He actually forced it past the empty mid-on area for four. Siraj’s adrenaline was so strong that he pursued it all the way to the long-on boundary, causing the Indian field players, particularly Virat Kohli, to laugh so hard they were splitting their sides.

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