Sri Lanka captain Skipper Dasun Shanaka dedicated the Asia Cup 2022 title victory to the crisis-hit nation, saying this victory will be a really good turnaround in Sri Lankan cricket.
On Sunday, September 11, Sri Lanka crushed Pakistan by 23 runs in the final to clinch their sixth Asia Cup title. After losing the first match in the Asia Cup 2022 against Afghanistan, the Sri Lankan team made a stunning comeback and won back-to-back four matches to reach the final against Pakistan.
Well, they continued their momentum to win the title for the island nation, which has suffered the worst economic crisis and political unrest for months.
Sri Lankan fans were present at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium to celebrate the Asia Cup 2022 win with drums and the Shanaka-led Sri Lankan team taking a victory lap of the ground with the trophy.
Dasun Shanaka told reporters: “The players have been playing good cricket for two, three years but the winning factor was not there. This will be a real good turnaround in our cricket. This lot (of players) will continue for another five, six years, so that will be a very good sign for us. They were waiting for it for so long, especially the final. We should dedicate this win to the whole nation.”
However, the Asia Cup 2022 champions will have to go through the qualifying stage to make it to the Super 12 of the T20 World Cup 2022, and Shanaka believes the qualifiers will help them acclimatize to Australian conditions, and now they have the winning momentum as well.
The Sri Lankan skipper added, “We played the qualifiers last year as well. We have the same set-up for the last three, four years and last two years have been good for us. The momentum is there and winning the Asia Cup really helps going ahead to the World Cup. Qualifiers will really help because we will play in the conditions before the main tournament happens, so it will be good for us.”
Bhanuka Rajapaksa lauded Chris Silverwood after Sri Lanka’s win in the Asia Cup 2022. Rajapaksa signed off by saying, “He has always been a good motivator for us and always wants us to play aggressive cricket. We have been given the freedom to play as we wish. And that really helps us as a team and as a young unit to come and win games like this.”
(With AFP Inputs)
