Sri Lanka emerged as the champion of the Asia Cup 2022. It happened to be an underrated team before the tournament but went to become the champion. In the final held against Pakistan tonight, Lanka won by 23 runs and won the cup.
This is the 6th Asia Cup victory for Sri Lanka. Only India has more Asia Cup victories than Sri Lanka right now (7 wins).
After winning the toss, Pakistan chose to bowl first. Sri Lanka got a huge blow right in the first over as opener Kusal Mendis got out in the bowling of Naseem Shah. After that, most of the top-order batters went back to the pavilion without making big scores. As a result, Sri Lanka was in trouble with a score of 58/5 at one point.
It was Bhanuka Rajapaksa (71) and Wanindu Hasaranga (36) who made a partnership of 58 runs and helped Sri Lanka in settling the innings. After Hasaranga got out, Karunaratne (14) gave good support to Rajapaksa and made a partnership of 54 runs. In the meantime, Rajapaksa scored a stunning half-century as well. As a result, Sri Lanka scored 170/6 in 20 overs. Haris Rauf picked up three wickets (3/29) for Pakistan.
Pakistan batters were never given a chance by Lankan bowlers to do well in the chase. The bowlers picked up wickets at regular intervals. Except for Mohammed Rizwan (55) and Ifthikar Ahmad (32), no other batter performed well in the chase. In the end, Pakistan got all-out for 147 in 20 overs. Pramod Madushan picked up four wickets (4/34), Hasaranga scalped three wickets (3/27) and Chamika Karunaratne (2/33) got two wickets for Sri Lanka.
