Asia Cup 2023 Final: Inspirational Siraj helps India break multi-national title drought

Mohammed Siraj’s inspirational bowling guided India to a stupendous 10-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2023 final. This was India’s eighth Asia Cup win and the seventh in the ODI format. The victory in Colombo also helped India break their title drought in multi-national events. The last time India won a multi-national trophy was the Asia Cup 2018.

IND vs SL, Asia Cup final:

Asked to chase down an easy target of 51, India completed the task in just 6.1 overs with openers Ishan Kishan (23) and Shubman Gill (27) staying not out.

On Sunday, hosts Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat first as there were chances of rain interrupting the match. In fact, the start of the Sri Lankan innings experienced a brief delay due to rain but once it began, Siraj took centre stage with his swing bowling and a history-making spell.

Sri Lanka lost their first wicket in the first over as Kusal Perera was caught behind off Jasprit Bumrah but things went from bad to worse in the fourth over when Siraj took four wickets in the same over to become the first Indian bowler to do so.

Read: Siraj blows away Sri Lanka batters in Asia Cup final 

He dismissed Pathum Nissanka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya de Silva in one over. After a brief gap, he cleaned up Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka in the sixth over to complete his five-wicket haul in just 16 balls and reduced the hosts to 12/6.

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Kusal Mendis was his sixth and final scalp of the day as the Hyderabad pacer finished with magnificent figures of 6/21 from seven overs including a maiden. This is the best figures for a fast bowler in the Asia Cup.

Record-breaking Siraj! 🤯@mdsirajofficial rewrites history, now recording the best figures in the Asia Cup!
6️⃣ for the pacer!

Tune-in to #AsiaCupOnStar, LIVE NOW on Star Sports Network#INDvSL #Cricket pic.twitter.com/2S70USxWUI

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) September 17, 2023

Hardik Pandya was also responsible for Sri Lanka getting bowled out on just 50. He dismissed the last three batters – Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, and Matheesha Pathirana – to bring the innings to an end.

Mendis (17) and Dushan Hemantha (13) were the only two Sri Lankan batters to reach the double figures.