Siraj’s ‘raj’ in Colombo, India becomes Asia Cup cricket champion for the eighth time

Colombo (Uttam Hindu News) – Thanks to the killer bowling of Mohammed Siraj (six wickets for 21 runs) and Hardik Pandya (three wickets for three runs), India defeated defending champions Sri Lanka by ten wickets on Sunday and won the Asia Cup title for the eighth time. Named.

This is India’s biggest win so far in the history of one-day cricket including the Asia Cup. India has got a chance to bring home the shining trophy of Asia Cup after a gap of five years. Earlier in the year 2018, India had won the Asia Cup. The credit for this historic victory rested on the charismatic bowler Mohammed Siraj of Hyderabad, who destroyed Sri Lanka’s top order with his wavy balls and the host team could score only 50 runs in 15.2 overs of play. With this, Siraj, who has given the best performance of his career, has become the fourth Indian bowler to take 50 wickets in ODI at the fastest pace.

In reply, India’s Ishan Kishan (23) and Shubman Gill (27) fulfilled the formality and scored 51 runs in 6.1 overs, registering a historic win for India. This is India’s biggest win while chasing in the history of one-day cricket. India has won the Asia Cup title the maximum number of eight times. This victory of India will prove to be a lifeline to boost the morale of Indian players in the World Cup starting next month. Captain Rohit Sharma changed the batting order and gave the opportunity to chase the target to young Ishan Kishan along with Shubman Gill, who lived up to the captain’s trust by playing at a fast pace.

Due to the charismatic performance of Mohammad Siraj, nicknamed Mian Magic by cricket fans, the pitch of R Premadasa Stadium became the graveyard of Sri Lanka’s batting. In the match which started late by about 40 minutes due to light rain, Siraj gave the best performance of his career by taking four wickets (Pathum Nissanka, Sadira Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjay de Silva) one after the other in his second over, giving Sri Lanka a tough time. Pushed into the swamp. Stuck in this quagmire, Sri Lanka’s innings struggled and ended at 50 runs in 15.2 overs. This score is the third lowest score in the history of one-day cricket while it is the lowest score made by any team in the history of Asia Cup.
For Sri Lanka, Kusal Mendis scored the highest 17 runs while Dusan Hemanta, who was included in the team in place of Mahish Thejna, returned unbeaten after scoring 13 runs. Siraj got full support from Jasprit Bumrah (one wicket for 23 runs) and Hardik Pandya at the other end. In his very first over, Bumrah put pressure on the host team by dismissing Kusal Perera for zero, while later Pandya gave Team India his lead by dismissing Dunith Vellallage (13), Pramod Madushan (1) and Mathisa Pathirana (0) cheaply. Gave a chance to celebrate winning the eighth Asia Cup title. Eight Sri Lankan batsmen could not take their individual score to double digits, out of which five could not even open their account.