ASIA CUP FINAL – India vs Sri Lanka – Believe it or go Nuts!!

By Sunil Sarpal

It was a bizarre match –  the Asia Cup Final held at Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 17th September, 2023.  The super-duper star of the match was none other than our own pacer Mohd.  Siraj.  He single-handedly demolished Sri Lanka with a haul of 6 wickets.  He set the tone of the match, scalping 4 Sri Lankan wickets in a single over.  His incisive spell brought about the downfall of Sri Lankan innings and wickets started tumbling like nine pins.  There was some juice on offer in the wicket and the need of the hour for the Sri Lankan batsmen to apply themselves, which they did not.  

The first salvo was engineered by Ravinder Jadeja when he, driving to his right, produced a stunning  diving  catch inches from the ground, at point.  

Mohd. Siraj was so charged up that he scalped four wickets in a single over, leaving Sri Lanka   completely shattered.  From the other end,  Bumrah too bowled beautifully and created pressure on batters in equal measure.  

Sri Lanka could post only 50 runs on the board and folded their innings.  

In the post match analysis, Indian veteran, Gautam Gambhir rightly pointed out that when the ball starts swinging viciously, it is imperative on the part of batsman to give due respect to bowlers and play defensively.  But the batsmen were not found to be disciplined and went for their shots.  

The contest between bat and ball never took off and it turned out to be a one sided affair, which, unbelievably, India won by 10 wickets.  From Indian side, both Gill and Ishan Kishan were equal to the task and won the match for India. In a lighter vein, this match qualifies to be in Ripley’s Believe it or Not

Mohd. Siraj was rightly declared Man of the Match because of his unimaginable heroics.