After several tense matches, it seemed that the 2023 Asia Cup was moving towards a thrilling conclusion, but the final encounter turned out to be decidedly one-sided, with Mohammed Siraj single-handedly decimating Sri Lanka in a flash. This was India’s seventh 50-over Asia Cup title, complemented by another in the T20 format in 2016.It’s worth noting that on the Mostbet betting website, anyone could place a bet on this match. There’s also the option to play at the Mostbet casino, which offers thousands of different slots.
Siraj barely noticed the opponents
On an overcast day, Siraj got the new ball to move and bagged 6 for 21, the fourth-best ODI figures for India. He needed just 16 balls for his first five wickets. It’s the best performance since records began, previously only achieved by Chaminda Vaas from Sri Lanka and Ali Khan from the USA.
Sri Lanka ended up scoring a mere 50 runs – their second-lowest in ODIs, with only two batsmen reaching double figures. The entire inning lasted just 15.2 overs, the fifth shortest in ODIs overall.
In response, Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan, opening the batting in place of Rohit Sharma, needed only 6.1 overs to wrap things up. The two opening batsmen hit nine fours between them; all of Sri Lanka’s batsmen together managed just five.
After losing the toss, Rohit Sharma mentioned that he too would have liked to open on what he termed a “dry pitch”. However, ten minutes before the scheduled start, rain began to pour. Perhaps, that changed the entire scenario.
The game wasn’t competitive or close
When the match finally began after a 40-minute rain delay, Jasprit Bumrah started swinging the ball both ways. With just his third delivery, he sent Kusal Perera packing behind the stumps. Sri Lanka was in for another surprise from the other end.
Siraj began with a maiden over, missing Kusal Mendis’s outside edge four times in a single over. In his next, he claimed four wickets. First to go was Pathum Nissanka, who lofted a delivery to backward point where Ravindra Jadeja bent low to his right to catch it two-handed.
Two balls later, Siraj dismissed Sadira Samarawickrama, and almost immediately, Charith Asalanka edged one to the slips. Dhananjaya de Silva survived a hat-trick ball. In fact, he drove it through the vacant mid-off for four. Siraj’s adrenaline was such that he chased it all the way to the long-off boundary, leaving the Indian fielders, especially Virat Kohli, in splits of laughter.
Dhananjaya didn’t last long; Siraj’s next ball had him caught behind, making him the fourth bowler after Vaas, Mohammed Sami, and Adil Rashid to take four wickets in a single ODI over (since records began). In the next over, Siraj uprooted Dasun Shanaka’s off-stump, completing his maiden five-wicket haul in One Day Internationals.
At 12 for 6, Sri Lanka was in danger of registering their lowest ODI score. Mendis and Dunit Wellalage saved them from this ignominy, adding 21. But Siraj wasn’t done. In the 12th over, he sent one onto Mendis’s helmet.
Soon after, Hardik Pandya finished off the innings with three quick wickets. Gill and Kishan had no issues chasing the meager target, with Gill getting off the mark dispatching Pramod Madushan for four in the final deliveries of the first over.
On the other end, Kishan struck two boundaries in Matisha Pathirana’s over, but Gill stole the show in the next over with three fours in three consecutive deliveries.
With the first ball of the seventh over, Kishan sealed the win with a shot to the long on-boundary.
In their next fixture, India will host Australia in a three-match ODI series, and these teams will face off again on October 8th in the opening stage of the World Cup in Chennai.
