Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 23 runs to lift the Asia Cup 2022. This is the first instance of SL winning 5 consecutive T20Is since April 2014.
Asia Cup 2022 : Winner | Who won | Prize money
The two best teams in the competition face off in the championship decider.
They met only a couple of days ago, when Sri Lanka emerged winners, but that was a dead rubber in which a lot of crucial players didn’t take the field.
Pakistan, especially, will have Shadab Khan and Naseem Shah to fire up their bowling line-up and Sri Lanka know it’ll be an uphill task tonight, especially if they lose the toss and bat first (something they haven’t successfully done so far in this tournament).
Sri Lanka and Pakistan have met each other in three finals – the former winning in 1986 and 2014w hile Pakistan prevailed in 2000.
Asia Cup 2022 winners
Sri Lanka bundle out Pakistan for 147, as they won the final by 23 runs to lift their sixth Asia Cup title on Sunday at Dubai International Stadium.
Put to bat first, Sri Lanka faced initial setbacks but a top knock of 71 runs off 45 balls by Rajapaksa helped them post a target of 171. Apart from him, Hasaranga also played a quick knock of 36 runs off 21 balls.
For Pakistan, Haris Rauf took three wickets while Shadab Khan, Naseem Shah, and Iftikhar Ahmed took one-wicket each.
Chasing 171, Pakistan faced a regular fall of wickets as only Mohammad Rizwan could score big with 55 runs.
Chamika Karunaratne and Maheesh Theekshana scalped two and one wicket, respectively.
Pakistan had done well to pick 25 runs off his first three overs but the fourth comes with set of match-changing effort.
As if he hadn’t done much already. Three wickets fell in that over; that of a well-set Rizwan (55 off 49), Asif Ali and Khushdil Shah.
The fielders, to their credit, took all the catches that came their way, which in Dubai’s ‘Ring of Fire’ stadium isn’t always the case.
Who won Asia Cup 2022
Sri Lanka win by 23 runs and thoroughly deserved this win. Kept on coming back from the most hopeless situations in the match and throughout the tournament.
They deserve this win. Sri Lanka cricket has been in the middle of a massive slump post the retirement of Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Malinga but this win will give them the confidence that they can win against any team in the world.
SL are on top in the final after the wicket of Mohammad Rizwan. Pakistan were in a good position after the 71-run stand between Rizwan and Iftikhar but they lost Iftikhar, Rizwan and Mohammad Rizwan in quick succession to put SL back in the driver’s seat.
The over from Wanindu Hasaranga where he picked Rizwan, Khushdil Shah and Asif Ali in the same over changed the match in SL’s favour.
Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed added 71 runs for the third wicket and put Pakistan in a great position. Pakistan now need just 75 runs in 37 balls which should not be too difficult if they keep wickets in hand. Wanindu Hasaranga has not been effective which is why Dasun Shanaka will be a concerned man.
Pakistan are 37/2 after the powerplay. Sri Lanka have got off to a great start as Pramod Madushan has removed Babar Azam and fakhar Zaman. Mohammad Rizwan is still at the crease and he will hold the key for Pakistan. He along with Iftikhar Ahmed needs to stitch a good partnership now.
This is an excellent start by Sri Lanka and Pramod Madushan as they have removed Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman. Babar Azam was caught out at five while Fakhar Zaman was clean bowled for a golden duck. This is trouble for Pakistan in the chase of 171.
Prize money
While the winners of this year’s edition of Asia Cup will receive a sum of Rs 1,59,53,000 approximately, on the other hand, the runners-up will receive Rs Rs 79,66,000.