SIRAJ MAGIC

 

Image Credit- ESPN CricInfo.

Venue- R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo [September 17, 2023].

Tournament favorites India were facing hosts Sri Lanka in the finals of the 2023 Asia Cup. Even though India lost their previous encounter against Bangladesh, but the team which was playing the final was not the one who had played against the Bangla Tigers. It was their best possible XI from their strong 15 men squad. On the other hand, hosts Sri Lanka were too in good hot form as they defeated Pakistan in a close encounter to reach the finals. Hence everyone was expecting a tight game between the two cricketing giants from Asia. 

However, the opposite happened. Sri Lankan Captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and elected to bat first. The hosts got the worst possible start as Bumrah dismissed their opener Kusal Perera in the third delivery of the game. The Sri Lankans now needed a strong partnership to come out of this early setback. But the 4th over of the game almost sealed the fate of the game. Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj picked up 4 wickets in a single over and reduced Sri Lanka to 12/5 at the end of 4 overs. On that afternoon of Colombo, it was almost impossible to play Siraj [It was that good a spell]. The Lankans failed to recover from this deadly spell of Siraj and were eventually bowled out for 50 runs in 15.2 overs.  In response the Indians chased down this total in just 6.1 overs without losing any wicket. 

Mohammed Siraj was awarded the man of the match award for his excellent spell of 6/21 as India lifted the Asia Cup after 5 long years.  

To watch the highlights of the game, Click Here.