Asia Cup 2022 Final: Sri Lanka rally like champions to send Pakistan packing in title match

Asia Cup 2022 Final: Sri Lanka rally like champions to send Pakistan packing in title match

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Sep 12, 2022 - 10:39
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Asia Cup 2022 Final: Sri Lanka rally like champions to send Pakistan packing in title match
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Dubai: Well begun is only half done and Sri Lanka drilled this adage into Pakistan in no uncertain terms at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday night as they won the Asia Cup 2022. Pakistan began like an express train but Sri Lanka came back in a fashion that became a nightmare for the rivals by the end of the match.

The sheer poise and confidence the islanders got from the recovery in the batting, thanks to Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s most outstanding effort, also reflected in their bowling as they were on point for most of the match, fielded like tigers and caught everything.

Their game plan, once they got through the Powerplay while batting, was almost perfect and Pakistan were left with no answers.

Pramod Madhushan had a dream spell (4/34), while Wanindu Hasaranga (3/27) showed why he is rated so highly.

One wonders where Pakistan would have been in Asia Cup 2022 without Mohammad Rizwan. The wicketkeeper-batter, coming in as opener, has been the mainstay of their batting in almost each match. Every time Pakistan have chased, he has been the lynchpin, especially since skipper Babar Azam has been seriously out of his depth.

However, on Sunday, even Rizwan was not enough. Pakistan’s over-dependence on him after they were really pegged back by the double-strike by Madhushan to remove Babar and Fakhar Zaman didn’t really materialise till really late in the inning. Even Rizwan struggled to get the bowlers off the square and 68/2 after 10 overs was just not good enough while chasing 170 runs.

Iftikhar Ahmed was the only other batter who got some measure of the bowlers and his treatment of Hasaranga in the leggie’s third over was quite a significant affair. Or was till Hasaranga came back to snare Rizwan for a 55 which was possibly not scored at his best tilt. Then, for good measure, Hasaranga yorked Asif Ali for a duck and then had Khushdil Shah in the same over and that pretty much was it.

One massive difference between the two sides was the fielding. Shadab Khan floored Rajapaksa once and another collision with a fellow-fielder saw the ball lob over the boundary for a six when the catch looked an easier option. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, dropped nothing.

But in the sum total, Sri Lanka have come a long way indeed from the disastrous opening match with Afghanistan. Five straight wins over a span of just above a week was something else. But then, once they had entered the Super 4, they were a different team altogether.

The Sri Lankan batting was in two distinct halves – pre-Bhanuka Rajapaksa and post his arrival.

It was quite an amazing transformation for the Sri Lankans. They knew they were up for it once Pakistan won the toss with the fast-bowling battery coming at them with incredible hostility and skill.

Naseem Shah was nearly unplayable at the top of the inning and Kushal Mendis possibly got the ball of the tournament, which swung in the air and blasted in through the batter’s defence. With Haris Rauf also delivering from the other end with two more wickets, post the Powerplay, Pakistan were all over their rivals.

This is where Babar Azam possibly missed a trick. He went to Shadab Khan’s straight after the Powerplay when the fast bowlers were really nearly unplayable. Sri Lanka did not really make them pay for that mistake early on, especially when Dhananjaya de Silva, who had actually dealt with the fast stuff quite well, hit one straight back to Iftikhar Ahmed, a part-time bowler at the best of times.

Dasun Shanaka had a brain fade but thereafter Sri Lanka seemed to get some poise back with Wanindu Hasaranga joining Rajapaksa.

The spin didn’t bother him and even the fast stuff by and large was without much imagination from the middle of the second lot of 10 overs till the end, with Rajapaksa and Hasaranga to start with and then also Chamika Karunaratne found runs where it looked like Sri Lanka would struggle to get a total of 130.

A stand of 58 for the sixth wicket and then another 54 for the unfinished seventh and Sri Lanka were back in business in no uncertain terms.

Rajapaksa played one of the best knocks of career. A score of 71 not out off 45 balls, with six boundaries and three sixes revitalised Sri Lanka radically. One of the fours and a six came off the last over by Naseem Shah, and that really threw down the gauntlet.

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