Charith Asalanka, the man of Sri Lanka who has often delivered match winning knocks, played a crucial role in leading his team to the Asia Cup final with a stunning two-wicket victory over an injury-hit Pakistan on DLS Thursday. Asalanka kept his cool and hit a boundary to third man against debutant fast bowler Zaman Khan, requiring six runs off the last two balls.
He then turned the pacer to square leg for two runs, taking Sri Lanka to 252-8 in a rain-reduced 42-over-a-side Super 4 game. Asalanka’s unbeaten 49 runs helped Sri Lanka overcome Pakistan in a nerve-cracking chase.
The left-handed batsman held his nerve despite Shaheen Shah Afridi’s two wickets in two balls in the penultimate over and the first four balls. Sri Lanka has become the team with most appearances in Asia Cup finals and will now face India in the finals at Colombo.
Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka praised Asalanka’s nerves of steel and character of a great player. Shanaka also expressed his delight in playing back-to-back finals. In the penultimate over, Afridi bowled perfectly and picked up the wickets of Dhananjaya de Silva and Dunith Wellalage off successive deliveries while conceding only four runs.
Asalanka brought the home crowd of nearly 35,000 at R. Premadasa Stadium on its feet off the last ball. Pakistan skipper Babar Azam admitted that his team was not up to the mark in bowling and fielding, which led to their loss. Although they started and ended well, the middle overs were not great.
Sri Lanka took advantage of Pakistan’s weakened bowling attack due to injuries and indifferent form. Key fast bowlers Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf were ruled out due to injuries, and all-rounder Faheem Ashraf was left out due to indifferent form. Kusal Mendis played a brilliant innings of 91 off 87 balls and shared a century-stand with Sadeera Samarawickrama, who made 48.
For Pakistan, Iftikhar Ahmed bowled decently and picked 3 wickets, especially when he dismissed Sadeera Samarawickrama and Dasun Shanaka, it looked like Pakistan might turn things around. However, Charith Asalanka remained calm at one end and took the match deep.
In the first innings, Pakistan didn’t start well with the bat. Fakhar Zaman has been no less than disappointment at the top for the men in green. After match was cut short, Pakistan decided to bat first but couldn’t find any rhythm in first 15 overs. Zaman was bowled by Pramod Madushan when Pakistan were at 9, from thereron, Abdullah Shafique and Babar Azam tried to build a partnership.
Once again, Dunith Wellalage broke the crucial partnership as Babar was dismissed for 29. Mohammad Haris and Mohammad Nawaz couldn’t stay long at the crease and Pakistan came struggling at 130/5 with Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed at the crease.
Both shared a century run stand which really allowed Pakistan to post something competitive. Rizwan smashed 86 off 73 balls and remained not out. Before rain Pakistan were 130/5 and after rain 252 for 7, it means they scored 122 runs in last 14.2 overs.
Unfortunately it wasn’t enough for them to defend the score. The match surely went down to the wire but Sri Lanka had other plans, Charith Asalanka did a wonderful job and gave Sri Lanka its 13th final appearance in the tournament.
