DUBAI:
Sri Lanka bounced again from an embarrassing opening defeat by Afghanistan to win the Asia Cup for a sixth time, overpowering Pakistan by 23 runs on the Dubai Worldwide Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
The victory for the island nation, which needed to abandon plans to host the competitors resulting from political unrest, comes as a curtain-raiser for T20 World Cup, which will likely be held in Australia subsequent month.
Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s unbeaten 71 and Wanindu Hasaranga’s key contributions with each and ball fired Sri Lanka to their sixth Asia Cup title after Pakistan skipper Babar Azam gained the toss and select to discipline first, as 9 of the earlier 12 matches gained by the groups chasing.
Sri Lanka bucked the development as they overcame an impressed opening spell of bowling by Pakistan quicks Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf. Participant-of-the-match Rajapaksa placed on a key 58-run stand for the sixth wicket with Hasaranga, who hit 36 after being in hassle at 58-5.
The pair rebuilt the innings and usually discovered the boundary to up the scoring price. Rauf dismissed Hasaranga, who hit 5 fours and one six in his 21-ball knock, caught behind for his fiftieth T20 wicket to interrupt the harmful stand.
Rajapaksa saved up the assault and survived a dropped catch by Shadab Khan within the deep, quickly reaching his third T20 half-century. He completed the innings with a 4 and 6 off Naseem in his 45-ball blitz, and Chamika Karunaratne placed on 54 runs to take the overall to 170-6.
Pacer Pramod Madushan (4-34) and Hasaranga (3-27) shared seven wickets between them to bowl out Pakistan for 147, whereas chasing 171. Dilshan Madushanka bowled a shaky opening over, beginning with a no-ball and 4 wides, however the left-arm fast swiftly made amends.
Taking part in simply his second T20, Madushanka had Azam caught at brief fine-leg for 5 after which bowled Fakhar Zaman for a golden duck the next supply. Mohammad Rizwan (55) and Iftikhar (32) put collectively a partnership of 71 however Madushan broke the stand.
Rizwan, who surpassed India’s Virat Kohli as the very best run-getter of the match with 282, reached his fifty with a six off Chamika Karunaratne however quickly fell to Hasaranga’s leg-spin and the wheels got here off the chase.
“We improved lots coming into the ultimate,” Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka stated wanting again at their marketing campaign which started with a loss towards Afghanistan. “I believe it occurred for motive. After that we had a critical dialogue with all of the gamers,” he added.
“We dominated the primary eight overs however that [Rajapaksa-Hasaranga] The partnership proved essential,” Pakistan captain Babar stated. “As a batting unit, we didn’t do based on our potential, and with the ball, we couldn’t end effectively and conceded 15-20 additional runs.”
The victory would style even higher for Sri Lanka, who couldn’t host the match at residence due to a political and financial disaster within the island nation although they retained the hosts’ honour.