The ongoing Asia Cup 2023 final between India and Sri Lanka being played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on September 17, proved to be a complete shocker for the hosts as they were completely decimated by the Indian team.
Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat first and captain Dasun Shanaka revealed that Dushan Hemantha replaced injured Maheesh Theekshana in the XI. And on the other hand, India captain Rohit Sharma, who is playing his 250th ODI, confirmed that Washington Sundar came in for Akshar Patel.
India pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj aided by moisture in the air due to some rain which delayed the start of the play, swung the ball all over the place, with Sri Lanka batters having no answer to their skills.
Jasprit Bumrah started with the wicket of Kusal Perera in the first over, and then Mohammed Siraj took over, taking 5 wickets in just 16 balls including 4 wickets in one over, the most by any Indian in ODIs. He finished with bowling figures of 6/21.
For Sri Lanka, Kusal Mendia (17) and Dushan Hemantha (13*) were the only ones to get into double figures, while five batters failed to register a single run.
Hardik Pandya then picked 3/3 as Sri Lanka was bowled out for just 50 runs in 15.2 overs, the lowest ever in an Asia Cup final.
The cricket fraternity had barely winked when the Sri Lankan innings crumbled and ended in the first hour of the play. They reacted on social media platform X about the amazing Indian bowling performance.
Here are some reactions:
