In the crucial Super 4 match of the 2023 Asia Cup, Sri Lanka confirmed their place in the final with a two-wicket win over Pakistan. As per DLS rules, Sri Lanka had a target of 252 runs in this match, which was achieved in 42 overs. In the team’s win, Kusal Mendis played an important role with the bat and played a brilliant innings of 91 runs while Charith Asalanka also scored an unbeaten 49 runs. Now the Sri Lankan team will play against India in the title game on September 17th.
In this match, the Sri Lankan team had to score 8 runs in the last over to win, with only 2 runs scored in the first 3 balls. Sri Lanka lost their 8th wicket on the fourth ball. Now Sri Lanka had to score 6 runs in the last 2 balls to win. Asalanka hit a four on the fifth ball and made two runs on the last ball, taking the team to the final.
As the Sri Lankan team came chasing the target in this match, Kusal Perera started scoring runs at a fast pace but while trying to score a run with the score at 20, Perera returned to the pavilion after scoring 17 runs back. After that, Kusal Mendis, who came to bat, supported Pathum Nissanka very well and did not let the team face any further setbacks in the first 9 overs. Both players combined for 57 runs.
Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis did not let up the pace after the first 9 overs of the game were over. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan team with a score of 77 suffered the second blow in the form of Pathum Nissanka, who fell victim to Shadab Khan with a personal score of 29 runs. Afterwards, Sadira Samarawickrama came onto the field to support Kusal Mendis. Together, both of them put pressure on the Pakistani bowlers and fielders and scored 1 and 2 runs continuously along with boundaries. Because of this, the Sri Lankan team continued to move towards the goal.
For the third wicket, there was an excellent 100-run partnership between Sadira Samarawickrama and Kusal Mendis. The Sri Lankan team lost its third wicket in the form of Samarawickrama with a score of 177, which was sent to the pavilion by Iftikhar Ahmed with a personal score of 48.
Kusal Mendis worked continuously from one end to lead the Sri Lankan team to victory but in the meantime he lost his wicket at a personal score of 91 runs. Sri Lanka then lost their fifth wicket in the form of captain Dasun Shanaka with the score at 222. Charith Asalanka controlled the innings from one end and returned after winning the last ball of the innings. Charith Asalanka played an unbeaten innings of 49 runs in this match. For Pakistan, Iftikhar Ahmed took three wickets and Shaheen Afridi took two wickets.
The Pakistan team decided to bat first after winning the toss in this game. The team didn’t have a good start and got the first blow in the form of Fakhar Zaman with 9 points. After that, captain Babar Azam and Abdullah Shafiq took control of the innings and put on a half-century partnership for the second wicket. Vellalaghe made Babar his victim with a personal score of 29. While Shafiq returned to the pavilion after scoring 52 runs. The Pakistan team had lost half of their team in this game with the score at 130.
From here, Mohammad Rizwan along with Iftikhar Ahmed not only took charge of the innings but also started scoring runs at a rapid pace. The 108-run partnership between the two played an important role in pushing Pakistan’s score past 250. In this match, Rizwan played an unbeaten innings of 86 runs while Iftikhar played an innings of 47 runs. Bowling for Sri Lanka, Mathisha Pathirana took three wickets while Pramod Madushan took two wickets.
