Sri Lanka produced a clinical all-round effort to clinch their sixth Asia Cup title, beating Pakistan by 23 runs in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday. Pakistan failed to chase down a target of 171, with Pramod Madushan taking four wickets and playing a crucial role in the final.
Earlier, having won the toss, Pakistan asked Sri Lanka to bat first. Sri Lanka, batting first, were off to a shaky start as they lost Kusal Mendis for a golden duck in the very first over. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals but Bhanuka Rajapaksa stood firm with an unbeaten 71 off 45 balls.
Rajapaksa was the game-changer for Sri Lanka with the bat. He was involved in two 50-plus partnerships with Wanindu Hasaranga , and then Chamika Karunaratne, as he led Sri Lanka to 170/6.
In Pakistan’s reply, only Mohammad Rizwan looked a stable batter as he scored 55 off 49 balls. Notably, he was involved in a 71-run stand with Iftikhar Ahmed (32) for the third wicket, but the Lankans were brilliant on the field, and good fielding from Lankans meant Pakistan continued losing wicket at the other end.
Apart from Madushan, Wanindu Hasaranga (three), Chamika Karunaratne (two) and Maheesh Theekshana (one) were Sri Lanka’s wicket-takers in the final.
Let’s now take a look at some interesting statistics from the Asia Cup final:
—This is Sri Lanka’s sixth Asia Cup title. Only India (Seven titles) have more titles than Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka last won the Asia Cup in 2014.
—This is for the first time since April 2014 that Sri Lanka have won five consecutive T20Is. The last time they had won five consecutive T20Is was during their T20 World Cup-winning campaign in Bangladesh in 2014.
—Babar Azam managed just five runs in the final and it was his sixth consecutive T20I innings without a 50+ score for the Pakistan skipper.
—Prior to the final, Sri Lanka had batted first on seven occasions in T20Is in 2022, and lost all of those matches.
—Kusal Mendis was dismissed for a golden duck in the final. It was for the third time in six innings during Asia Cup 2022 that Kusal Mendis had been dismissed in the first over.
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