Mohammed Siraj bowled a sensational spell to blow away Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final. Opening the bowling for India under overcast conditions, Siraj bowled with a good mix of pace, bounce, and swing to leave the Lankan batting order in tatters.
Consistently bowling at speeds of over 140 kmph, Siraj swung the ball both ways, and this swing made him very unpredictable and led to batters getting bowled out.
With his match-winning effort, Siraj also became the fourth fastest Indian to claim 50 wickets in ODI cricket.
Siraj began with a maiden over after which he claimed four wickets in an over to annihilate Lanka’s batting order completely. Pathum Nissanka, Sadeera Samaraiwickrama, Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya De Silva were the victims.
Later on, he came back to pick up two more wickets to make it six in the game and return with a memorable figures of 6/21 in seven overs. Meanwhile, after electing to bat first after winning the toss, Sri Lanka was bowled out for just 50 runs.
Here’s a quick form-check of Team India after the game:
Rohit Sharma – Playing in his 250th ODI, the Indian captain was spot on with his captaincy and always looke to attack the opposition, and encouraged his players to do the same. This aggressive approach was very successful for India in the finals. Incidentally, in the paltry run-chase, Sharma also gave his spot to young Ishan Kishan to open the batting.
Shubman Gill – Opening the batting, Gill settled the nerves with a boundary in the first over. In the brief run-chase, Gill looked in fine touch and smashes four fours.
Virat Kohli – Virat Kohli did not come out to bat but he did have a good day in the field and also took a good catch off the bowling off Hardik Pandya.
KL Rahul – KL Rahul had a good outing behind the stumps as he took a couple of good catches behind the wickets in the first five overs which put the hosts on the backfoot. Rahul has shown significant improvement in his wicketkeeping, which is a major boost for the Indian team. Rahul impressed with his agility and glovework, and he also took a couple of important catches. Rahul’s improved wicketkeeping in the Asia Cup 2023 gives the team more flexibility, as he can now be used as a wicketkeeper-batter, which gives the team more options in the middle order.
Ishan Kishan – Given a chance to open the batting, the youngster started to attack right from the start and smashed two boundaries in the second over to set the tempo. Kishan, who is a renowned wicketkeeper, was also good while fielding and took a couple of neat catches.
Hardik Pandya – Hardik Pandya rolled his arm over and got into the act when he picked up the wicket of Dunith Wellalage for 8. Thereafter, he bowled just 2.2 overs but ended up taking three wickets as the Lankans were bowled out for their lowest ODI total against India. Pramod Madushan and last man Matheesha Pathirana were his other victims.
Ravindra Jadeja – Ravindra Jadeja took a fantastic catch of Pathum Nissanka to start the slide for the Lankans. Standing behind square, Jadeja was brought slightly ahead by captain Rohit Sharma and all Jadeja did was dive to his right and take a brilliant catch.
Jasprit Bumrah – The Indian speedster opened the bowling for India and got a wicket in the first over itself. Bowling over the wicket, he tempted Kusal Perera with a wide one and induced the edge. Perera’s wicket was the first one for Jasprit Bumrah in the first over of an innings in ODIs.
Mohammed Siraj – Mohammed Siraj bagged a six-wicket haul and destroyed the Lankan batting order single-handedly. Siraj picked up his five wicket hauls in just 16 balls with a a spell of 5/4 in 2.4 overs. For someone who is known to predominantly bowl the in coming ones for right handers, he is getting to shape away a lot now. He made it all the more challenging with his angle where he pitched them around off and got the ball to move away.
Kuldeep Yadav – The chinaman bowler did not have to do much as the majority of the damage had been done by the seamers and all he had to do was just bowl one over in which he gave away just one run.
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