Mohammed Siraj’s 6/21 along with Hardik Pandya’s 3/3 followed by fifty partnerships from Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan handed India an emphatic 10-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the final of Asia Cup 2023 at R. Premadasa Stadium. With this win, India were crowned champions for the 8th time in the history of the Asia Cup
Speaking about the game, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bowl first, Bumrah struck first up in just the third ball as Kusal Perera nicked one to the wicket-keeper for second ball duck. From there on it was Mohammed Siraj who was all the way in the game rattling the Sri Lankan batting unit. He picked up four wickets in his third over. Siraj ended his spell with 6/21 in seven overs while Hardik Pandya came in and picked the tail ending his spell with 3/3, eventually bowling Sri Lanka out for 50. Four out of the top seven batters in Sri Lanka were dismissed for a duck.
Chasing 51, Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan went berserk against the Lankan bowlers getting over the line inside 6 overs Shubman Gill smashed 27 runs while Ishan Kishan scored 23 runs to take India over the line with 10 wickets to spare, and eventually won the Asia Cup for the 8th time
Let us look at the stats and numbers from the final between India and Sri Lanka:
50 -Sri Lanka were bowled out for 50, this is the lowest total in Asia Cup ODI and this is also the lowest total in any tournament final. Previously India scored 54 against Sri Lanka in the Coco Cola Cup final in 2000 in Sharjah.
2 -Sri Lanka registered their second-lowest total of 50 against India in the final. Their lowest ODI total was 43 against South Africa in Paarl in 2012.
15.2 -Sri Lanka were bowled out in 15.2 overs, the second lowest overs batted before being all-out by a full-member team. Zimbabwe tops the list with 13.5 against Afghanistan in Harare in 2017.
6/21 -Siraj registered the second-best bowling figures of 6/21 in Asia Cup ODI. 6/13 from Ajantha Mendis against India in 2008 is the best spell in the Asia Cup.
2 -This is the second time India have defeated Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in ODI. They previously won in 1984 in Sharjah.
2 -This is the second time in the history of the Asia Cup that 10 wickets have been taken by pacers. The other instance was Pakistan vs India in Colombo in 2023.
3 -Rohit Sharma became the third captain after Mohammad Azharuddin and MS Dhoni to win two Asia Cups.
263 -India defeated Sri Lanka by 263 balls, this is their biggest victory in terms of balls to spare. 231 against Kenya was their second-best.
1 -A total of 50 scored by Sri Lanka is the lowest total by any team in ODIs in Colombo. 86 by the Netherlands against Sri Lanka was the second-lowest total.
3/3 -Spell of 3/3 by Hardik Pandya is his second-best figure in ODI. His best figures of 4/24 came against England in 2022.
6/21 -Mohammed Siraj’s spell of 6/21 is the best bowling figure by any bowler against Sri Lanka in ODI surpassing Waqar Younis’ tally of 6/36.
8 -India has now won 8 Asia Cup titles.
129 -A total of 129 balls were bowled in this game, the second shortest ODI played between two full-member sides. SL vs Zim in 2001 tops the list with 120 balls.
16 -Mohammed Siraj completed his first five wickets in just 16 balls, the joint-quickest fifer by a bowler in ODIs, he shares this along with Chaminda Vaas who did the same against Bangladesh in 2003.