Sri Lanka found two major heroes for the Asia Cup 2022 final against Pakistan in Dubai, with Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Wanindu Hasarana lighting up the Sunday night for the fans from the Island nation and helping their side achieve the unexpected tournament triumph.
The Lankan Lions claimed the Asia Cup title for the sixth time in the competition’s history while holding the coveted crown in the T20I format for the very first occasion thanks to the magnificent individual performances of their two crucial players.
Finding themselves deep into troubled waters at 58 for 5, the Sri Lankans smashed Pakistan in a great counterattack for the rest of the innings to reach a position of strength at 170/6. They then dismissed the vulnerable Pakistan batting unit for only 147, securing a memorable victory by 23 runs to lift the trophy.
In retrospect, it was the knock from Hasaranga which inspired the amazing turnaround. The young spin allrounder blazed his willow for an influential knock of 36 off 21 deliveries and put the pressure back on the opposition. That innings switched the momentum of the play completely and allowed Sri Lanka to fight their way back into the contest.
Hasaranga then provided the final touch to the Sri Lankan display with an outstanding spell with the ball in hand. The mystery spinner proved too good a challenge for the struggling Pakistani batting unit, ending with figures of 3 for 27 off his 4 overs. His exploits completely broke the back of the Pakistan run-chase as they eventually surrendered to the Sri Lankan spirits.
While Hasaranga played the enabler of the turnaround, it was Rajapaksa on whose shoulders the Sri Lankans rode their way to a defendable total on a flat batting surface. The left-hander played another match-winning knock for his side, blazing his willow for a rich 71 not out off 45 balls, featuring six fours and three sixes.
After playing game-transforming knocks earlier in the competition, Rajapaksa left his final imprint on the Sri Lankan campaign with a great half-century in the summit clash. It was his knock that perhaps took the game away from Pakistan in the first half itself by forcing their anchors into a spot from where any slow effort was going to be very costly.
This hurt their opening batter and anchor Mohammad Rizwan very badly. He played a contentious, match-losing knock of 55 off 49 deliveries, wherein he put all the pressure on the rest of the Pakistan batters to push up the run-scoring, which ultimately meant greater risk-taking and regular wickets throughout the chase. In a sorry performance with the bat, Pakistan’s next highest scorer Iftikhar Ahmed, too, went at almost run-a-ball for his knock of 32.
Even though the Rizwan-Iftikhar stand allowed Pakistan to claw their way back after the early departures of Babar Azam (5) and Fakhar Zaman (0), the snail-like progress into the chase meant they eventually caved to the pressure of the asking rate piled on by the incisive Sri Lankan bowling.
Apart from Hasaranga, pacer Pramod Madhushan (4/34) and allrounder Chamika Karunaratne (2/33) came to the party with the ball for the Sri Lankans, chipping in with important wickets to the team’s cause. To make things tougher for Pakistan, Hasaranga’s spin partner Maheesh Theekshana (1/25) delivered a restrictive spell.
Pakistan’s only real positive for the night came via the ball, with pacer Haris Rauf taking 3 for 29 and threatening to end the contest in the first half. Pakistan will be deeply disappointed to let Sri Lanka off the hook and going down so heavily.
Brief scores
Sri Lanka 170/6 in 20 overs (Rajapaksa 71*, Hasaranga 36; Rauf 3/39) beat Pakistan 147/10 in 20 overs (Rizwan 55; Madhushan 4/34, Hasaranga 3/27) by 23 runs
