Pakistan’s bowlers gave the Sri Lankan batsmen a tough time in the final of the Asia Cup and took 5 wickets for just 58 runs. In the Asia Cup final being played in Dubai, Babar Azam won the toss and invited Sri Lanka to bat first.
Naseem Shah opened with a wide ball but his spinning third ball took the wickets of Kaushal Mendes and gave Pakistan their first win. Naseem Shah, living up to the expectations, took the team’s wicket in the first over and conceded only 4 runs.
In the second over, Nissanka hit Mohammad Hasnain for two fours and took the score to 16 runs, after which Naseem hit a four in the second over to make the score 23 in 3 overs. Babar Azam replaced Hasnain with Haris Rauf for the fourth over, who dismissed the ambitious Nissanka on the second ball.
The skipper took Nissanka’s catch off the ball of Harris and caused Sri Lanka a big loss and conceded 5 runs. Mohammad Hasnain bowled the fifth over and Dhananjaya took 5 runs.
Haris Rauf struck again in the sixth over and took Sri Lanka’s third wicket, the fast bowler taking the wickets of Dhanushka Gunathilaka on the first ball of the over, who managed just one run. On the fifth ball, Haris Rauf troubled Rajapaksa and appealed for lbw, which was rejected by the umpire but the decision did not go in his favor.
Shadab Khan bowled the seventh over and conceded 5 runs and Sri Lanka batted confidently in this over. Captain Babar Azam changed the bowling order, bringing in off-spinner Iftikhar Ahmed, who conceded 6 runs in the first three balls, including a four.
