Abhijay Raj Vaish, Pune
India defeated defending champions Sri Lanka in the final match of the Asia Cup on Sunday knocking them all out for a mere score of 50. The match was delayed at the inception due to rains but India rained down on the hosts registering a convincing victory by 10 wickets whilst lifting their eighth Asia cup title.
India broke several records while gliding their way to victory but the destroyer-in-chief on the day was Mohammed Siraj whose magical spell of 6 for 21 ended India’s five-year Asia cup drought. Siraj shattered Sri Lanka’s backbone while sweeping several records in the process. The Indian seamer registered the fastest five-wicket haul in ODI cricket history equalling Chaminda Vaas’s record of 17 balls. He also slated the second-best figures in Asia cup history only topped by Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis. The quickie became the first Indian to scalp four wickets in an over while becoming the fourth overall from full member nations to achieve this feat.
The Indian vice-captain Hardik Pandya also took three crucial wickets rounding off the Sri Lankan batting at the R Premadasa stadium lasting for just 92 balls. This was Sri Lanka’s second lowest total in one-day internationals.
The Indian batters did the job in just 6.1 overs with Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill prolonging the dominant display by India in all departments. Gill aced the batting department by becoming the top scorer of the tournament with 302 runs in 6 matches.
This was a record win for India in terms of balls, defeating the hosts with 263 balls remaining to become the team with the most Asia cup titles in the competition’s history. The final as well as the Asia cup was a huge boost for India where they ticked all the boxes with the World Cup just around the corner.
In the post-match conference, Siraj said that he just tried to bowl his line and length, and wickets kept coming.