NEW DELHI, Sept 17: Rain stayed away but a storm hit Sri Lanka on Sunday. A thunderstorm was predicted to hit Colombo in the afternoon, but before anyone could realise anything, Siraj-storm decimated the Sri Lankan team to their lowest ever total in Asia Cup cricket enabling India to lift the cup for the eighth time with a huge 10 wickets victory.
The 50-over a side match lasted for just 21.3 overs, Sri Lanka taking 15.2 over to score 50 runs and India just 6.1 overs to score of the required 51 runs to end the match with the opening pair of Shubhman Gill and Ishan Kishan staying unbeaten with 27 and 23 runs respectively.
The bright and sunny afternoon turned overcast just 10 minutes before the scheduled start. Once the Asia Cup final finally got going 40 minutes late, a capacity crowd at the R. Premadasa Stadium had one eye on the sky, when the thunderstorm might hit but before the rain, Mohammad Siraj wrecked the defence of the Sri Lankan batsman taking four wickets in just one over and finally finishing with 6 for 21 in seven overs and Hardik Pandya taking three wickets for just three runs in 2.2 overs.
While the dark clouds stayed away, the Siraj-storm struck Sri Lanka so hard that it literally blew the home team away. Riding on Mohammed Siraj’s sensational opening burst, India bundled out Sri Lanka for 50 in just 89 minutes. It took India just 37 balls to overhaul the lowest team total in the Asia Cup’s four-decade history to seal an emphatic win and lift the trophy in style.
Minutes before the toss, when captain Rohit Sharma had a close look at the surface, sensing its dryness, he pointed to the dressing room with three spinners. It meant Washington Sundar, having been added to the squad in place of injured Axar Patel, was blooded in the XI. But Washington virtually had no role to play in the game with India’s three pacers spoiling a Lankan band.
Jasprit Bumrah struck off the third ball, thanks to K.L. Rahul stretching to his left to accept an edge off Kusal Perera’s willow. Siraj started off with a maiden to Kusal Mendis but the Hyderabad hurricane was unstoppable in his second over.
The fourth over saw Siraj sealing the fate of the game by picking four wickets. The pacer landed the ball in the perfect channel, and bowled perfect outswingers at will. He also jagged the ball occasionally to leave Sri Lanka batters dumbfounded.
Pathum Nissanka (caught by a lunging Ravindra Jadeja at point), Sadeera Samarawickrama (beaten on inside-edge to be adjudged lbw), Charith Asalanka (caught at covers by Ishan Kishan) and Dhanajaya de Silva (caught behind off an outswinger) all fell prey to Siraj’s masterclass.
De Silva, despite saving a hat-trick with a flick off the fifth ball, perished off the next. Siraj returned in the next over to straighten up captain Dasun Shanaka to uproot his off-stump to complete his maiden ODI five-wicket haul in just 16 balls.
At 12 for six, the writing was on the wall. In his extended spell of seven over, Siraj added Kusal Mendis’ wicket, with the batter missing a wild heave to be bowled. Hardik Pandya then wound up the tail even before the spinners came into any real action. That Kuldeep Yadav could bowl a solitary over and only two Sri Lanka batters reached double-digit scores underlined India’s pace pack’s domination.
Rohit preferred to let Ishan Kishan have a hit in the middle along with in-form Shubhman Gill. And the duo hardly dropped guard, with Kishan tapping the first ball of the seventh over to long-off for a single to complete the formalities just 27 minutes into the innings.
Several records were broken in the last 90 minutes as Siraj finished with 6 wickets to his name. Four of those wickets came in one over, and that’s where he sealed the fate of the match. Siraj, a rising star who gave an incredible performance against Sri Lanka in the 2023 Asia Cup Finals, is at the top of this elite ranking.
Within 16 balls ‘Miyan Magic’ completed his fifer. With this, he completed a five-for off merely 16 balls. This equals the world record for the quickest five-for (ever since ball-by-ball data became available). He shares this with Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas, who had picked five wickets against Bangladesh off merely 16 balls in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2003.
Siraj became the second bowler in the Asia Cup 50-over format to take a 6-wicket haul after Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis bagged the figure of 6/13 against India in 2008.
(Manas Dasgupta)