Cricket Highlights, 11 Sept: Asia Cup 2022, Final Match (SL vs PAK)

SL vs PAK (Final Match) – Highlights

Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan by 23 runs in the final of the Asia Cup and got the crown of excellence this season. However, after the miserable loss in the group stage against Afghanistan, no one could have imagined that the Lankans will reach the final by blowing away superpowers like India and Pakistan. With this, Sri Lanka won the title of the greatest event in the continental for the sixth time.

Chasing the target of 171 runs given by Sri Lanka in Dubai on Sunday (September 11), Pakistan got all out after scoring 147 runs in the allotted 20 overs. Pramod Madushan was one of the heroes who won the match for the Lankans in the final. He turned the match by taking 4 wickets alone. In the end, Wanindu Hasaranga also helped his team to win the match by taking 3 wickets in one over.

Pakistan’s batting pillar is the top order. Because it has been seen in recent times, almost 90% of the achievement of winning the match by chasing runs belongs to Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, and Fakhar Zaman. However, coming to the Asia Cup, Babar was suffering from a run drought. His highest score of the tournament was 30 against Sri Lanka in the last match of the Super Four.

In the final, out of form, Babar returned with 5 runs from 6 balls. In the fourth over of the innings, Babar Azam connected the ball well outside the leg stump of Madushan while trying to send the ball to the fine leg boundary. Dilshan Madushanka took a great catch at the short fine leg and the Pakistan captain got dismissed.

Another top-order batsman, Fakhar Zaman, is in the same situation as Babar. He did not bat well except for a fifty against Hong Kong in the group stage. He could not play any role for the team even in the final. On the contrary, he put the team in danger by getting out in the next ball of Babar. Fakhar was bowled by getting an edge while negotiating a shot on Madushan’s ball and it hit into the stumps. Pakistan lost 2 wickets scoring 22 runs.

Pakistan did not get a big collection in the power play in that initial shock. 37 runs for 2 wickets was their total at the end of the powerplay. Opener Rizwan has been leading the top order alone since the beginning of the season. Even yesterday, he remained a symbol of confidence in Pakistan’s batting line-up. He handled the initial pressure of the team with Iftikhar Ahmed. They made a pair of 71 runs against 59 balls for the third wicket.

Madushan broke the pair in the 14th over. Iftikhar was caught at midwicket while picking up his slower. He scored 32 runs off 31 balls with 2 fours and a six. Hard hitter Mohammad Nawaz came to the crease when 78 runs were required from 40 balls. But he could not show any surprise like in the match against India.

Nawaz was caught at midwicket while trying to play a pull shot to Chamika Karunaratne’s short length slower. He scored only 6 runs in 9 balls. On the other hand, Rizwan scored his third fifty of the tournament holding into one end of the crease.

However, his batting was not at all expected in T20s. Even if he took control of the match, he also drowned the team by playing a lot of balls. He was caught on the boundary going for a six when the team needed 61 runs off 24 balls to win. Rizwan scored 55 runs off 49 balls hitting 4 fours and a six. Hasaranga sent him back to the dressing room.

Coming in the last over of his spell, Hasaranga changed the entire picture of the match. After Rizwan, Sri Lanka secured the win by returning Khushdil Shah (2) and Asif Ali (0) in a gap of four balls. Pakistan still needed 59 runs off 19 balls. Despite having three wickets in hand, there was virtually no other batsman at the crease except Shadab Khan. In the end, losing all the wickets, Pakistan’s innings stopped at 147 runs.

Madushan scalped the highest number of 4 wickets for Sri Lanka. Besides, Hasaranga took 3, Karunaratne 2, and Maheesh Theekshana took 1 wicket each. Earlier, after losing the toss and coming down to bat, Sri Lanka collected a challenging score of 170 runs by losing 6 wickets in the scheduled 20 overs based on Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s stormy innings of 71 runs from 45 balls as well as 36 run-innings off 21 balls by Hasaranga.

Pakistani pacer Naseem Shah gave a blow in the first over in the Sri Lankan camp. After giving 2 runs including wides in the first two balls, Naseem uprooted the stumps of Kusal Mendis with a great in-swinger in the next ball. He spent only 4 runs in that over. Mohammad Hasnain gave 12 runs in the next over.

Sri Lanka lost another wicket at the break of one over. Pathum Nissanka was caught at long off on the second ball of Haris Rauf’s over. He scored 8 runs off 11 balls before getting out. Pakistan skipper Babar Azam took Nissanka’s catch running back. Haris also took the wicket of Danushka Gunathilaka (1) with an in-swinger on the first ball of the sixth over of the innings.

Dhananjaya de Silva was pulling the Sri Lankan team alone. Of the 47 runs scored by the Lankans at the end of the power play, De Silva was the only one to score 27 runs. Silva, who became important, got out in the eighth over of the innings. He was caught and bowled by Iftikhar. Captain Dasun Shanaka returned to the dugout after scoring only 2 runs while trying to play a big shot off Shadab.

Hasaranga and Rajapaksa led the team when Sri Lanka was suffering from the loss of 5 wickets for the team’s 58 runs. They made a pair of 58 runs. Hasaranga scored 36 runs off 21 balls. Haris broke that pair. Rajapaksa and Karunaratne formed another strong pair at the end. 54 runs came from their pair till the last ball of the innings. 

Rajapaksa played a devastating unbeaten innings of 71 runs off 45 balls smashing 6 fours and 3 sixes. On the other hand, Karunaratne remained unbeaten with 14 runs. For Pakistan, Haris Rauf took the highest number of 3 wickets, and Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, and Naseem Shah took 1 wicket each.

Bhanuka Rajapaksa was adjudged player of the match after playing the match-winning innings. Apart from this, all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga was selected as the player of the series for his excellent performance throughout the tournament.

SL vs PAK Scoreboard

Sri Lanka – 170/6 (20.0)

Pakistan – 147/10 (20.0)

Result – Sri Lanka won by 23 runs

Player of the match – Bhanuka Rajapaksa

Player of the series – Wanindu Hasaranga

SL vs PAK Playing XIs