Image Source- AFP
After a few close games, it appeared like the 2023
Asia Cup might have a dramatic conclusion, but Mohammed Siraj’s lone-handed
demolition of Sri Lanka in the championship match was an anticlimax. India won
the 50-over Asia Cup for the seventh time, adding to their T20 victory from the
previous year.
Siraj managed to move the new ball in the cloudy
conditions and recorded 6 for 21, India’s fourth-best ODI stats. Along with
Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka and Ali Khan of the United States, he captured his
first five wickets in just 16 balls, the quickest five-for in ODI history.
With only two batsman scoring in double figures, Sri
Lanka were all out for 50, their second-lowest ODI total. The entire game
lasted only 15.2 overs, making it the fifth-shortest ODI game overall.
In response, it only took Shubman Gill and Ishan
Kishan 6.1 overs to finish the procedures, opening the innings in place of
Rohit Sharma. The two India starting batters combined for nine fours, compared
to five for all Sri Lanka batters.
After a 40-minute wait, the game eventually began, and
Jasprit Bumrah got the ball to go in both directions. With his third delivery,
he managed to catch Kusal Perera off guard. From the other end, Sri Lanka was
about to receive an even ruder jolt.
Siraj made his debut by four times in the over
overcoming Kusal Mendis’ outside edge. He had four wickets in his next innings.
The first player to leave was Pathum Nissanka, who pushed a length delivery
upbeatly towards the backward point, where Ravindra Jadeja dove low to his
right and scooped it up with both hands.
Two balls later, Siraj had Charith Asalanka chipping
one to cover and two balls after that, Siraj had Sadeera Samarawickrama
stranded lbw. The hat-trick ball didn’t harm Dhananjaya de Silva. In fact, he
pushed it four times through the open mid-on area. The Indian fielders split
their sides with amusement as Siraj chased the ball all the way to the long-on
boundary thanks to his high levels of adrenaline.
Dhananjaya did not survive long; the following
delivery, Siraj ended the over by having him caught behind, becoming the fourth
bowler in ODIs (where data is available) to take four wickets in an over (after
Vaas, Mohammad Sami, and Adil Rashid). Siraj completed his first ODI
five-wicket haul by uprooting Dasun Shanaka’s off stump in the following over.
The meagre target was easily chased down by Gill and
Kishan, with Gill scoring his first run by flicking Pramod Madushan for four on
the final delivery of the first over.
At the other end, Kishan hit consecutive fours off
Matheesha Pathirana, but Gill outdid him in the following over with three runs
in three balls.
With a single to long-off off the first ball of the
seventh over, Kishan put the game away.