Sri Lanka clinched Asia Cup 2022 beating Pakistan by 23 runs in the final. They made it difficult for Pakistan team to score throughout their 172-run chase and turned the table in the last four overs. Wanindu Hasaranga, who had earlier scored a 21-ball 36 to bring the Sri Lankan innings back on track with Bhanuka Rajapaksa, took three wickets in the 17th over alone to all but finish off the Pakistani challenge.
Earlier, Rajapaksa’s unbeaten 45-ball 71, completely turned the tables on Pakistan. Sri Lanka ended up scoring 170/6 despite being 67/5 after the first 10 overs. After being asked to bat, Sri Lanka were down to 58-5 at one point in time before Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Wanindu Hasaranga built a great partnership to get Sri Lanka past 100. Even after Hasaranga’s wicket, Rajapaksa continued and got to a fifty. He was supported by drop catches and Sri Lanka made 170/6 in their 20 overs.
Chasing total Pakistan could never get into the game as they were given early blows. Just when things started looking bright with a 71-run stand between Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed, the latter perished and then wickets kept falling as Pakistan eventually got all out for 147 on the last ball of the innings. As expected, Pakistan have brought in Shadab Khan and Naseem Shah in their playing 11 while Sri Lanka have remained unchanged as the two changes they made in the last game in the form of Dhananjaya de Silva and Pramod Madushan, actually fitted perfectly in the jigsaw puzzle.
The teams:
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis(w), Dhananjaya de Silva,Danushka Gunathilaka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka(c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Pramod Madushan, Dilshan Madushanka.
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan(w), Babar Azam(c), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Asif Ali, Khushdil Shah, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain.
