Asia Cup 2022: Sri Lanka wanted to show to the world we have aggression, says Bhanuka Rajapaksa

Batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa feels that Sri Lanka have shown to the world that they are an aggressive side with their Asia Cup title triumph. Sri Lanka, who played an attacking brand of cricket throughout the tournament, defeated Pakistan by 23 runs in the final on Sunday to clinch their sixth Asia Cup title. “We all just wanted to show the whole world, a couple of decades back, that we had some sort of aggression in our side. And we wanted to create those moments again. I think, as a unit, we are doing that fantastically well at the moment,” Rajapaksa said in the post-match conference. Asia Cup Final: Sri Lanka rally like champions to send Pakistan packing in title match “We want to look forward to the World Cup as well and to keep up this momentum.” He added that the Asia Cup win will bring smiles to the faces of Sri Lankans amid the economic crisis. “As a nation, I think it’s a great win … with all the crisis happening back home, these are tough times for Sri Lankans. We are glad and hope that we brought some smiles to their faces.” Batting first in the final, Sri Lanka made 170/6 with Rajapaksa scoring an unbeaten 71 off 45 balls in Dubai. He helped his team recover from 58-5 after Pakistan opted to bowl first. Rajapaksa helped Sri Lanka score 20 off the last over and smashed a four on the penultimate ball of the innings before hitting a six on the final ball. Asia Cup Final: Rajapaksa’s batting, Lankan's fielding, Rizwan’s inning and more talking points In reply, Pakistan were bowled out for 147 with pacer Pramod Madushan taking four wickets in only his second T20 international. Rajapaksa said the last ball six gave the much-needed momentum to Sri Lanka in the final. “The last ball six and the last over helped us with the momentum and this is a game of momentum,” said Rajapaksa. “It was not easy out there. Pakistan were bowling well. When Wanindu came in, we got a plan. We wanted to be positive all through. When Iftikhar was bowling, Wanindu said that he would attack him. But thankfully, both of us went hard. I had to change my game because the Pakistanis were on top. We wanted to spend some time in the crease and that helped in getting 170. “When Chris (Silverwood) came out to talk to us after the 10th over, I told him that 140 was a good score. But we stayed till the end and the target was much different,” he added. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.