Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by two wickets in a nail-biting last-ball match on Thursday. This means that the Asia Cup 2023 final will be between India and Sri Lanka.
Sl Won by 2 wickets against Pakistan in Asia Cup Match
Asalanka finished the game for the home team and got them to their goal of 252 runs, which made the game very exciting.
Sri Lanka and India will now play in the final of the Asia Cup 2023 on September 17 in Colombo.
Charith Asalanka stayed cool even though it was up to him to get his team over the finish line in the last few overs. He batted with patience.
At one point in the last over, the away team was ahead because of how well Zaman Khan played. They only had to protect six runs in the last two balls.
But Asalanka got an outside edge on the second-to-last ball of the match, and the ball hit the boundary line.
When Zaman bowled a slower length ball on the pads, Sri Lanka needed two runs off of one. The left-handed hitter kept his cool and played a simple shot towards the deep square leg fence. He celebrated as he ran two across the field to help his team win a historic game.
During a gathering after the game, he explained how he came up with the idea to win with the last ball.
“I just thought, ‘How can I get two to hit a break and run hard?’ because it was a big field, and I just told Pathirana to run hard. I thought he would either bowl a bouncer or a yorker, but instead he threw a slower ball, which helped me.
I’m very happy. Mendis and Sadeera did a great job at bat. I was ready to be done. That’s what I do. “In my book, this inning is second best,” he said.
With 252 runs to get, Sri Lanka looked like the favorite from the start because their batters played mature and smart games.
Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama put their team in a strong situation by putting up 100 runs together.
Mendis was out after getting 91 runs, and Samarawickrama was just two runs away from his 50 when Iftikhar Ahmed caught him.
Iftikhar helped his team not only with the bat but also with the ball. He took three important wickets at just the right time, but all of his hard work was for nothing.
When Pakistan batted first, Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar worked together to help their team get 252 runs on the board.
Rizwan hit an unbeaten 86 off 73 balls with nine fours, and Abdullah Shafique got his first ODI half-century and was the Green Shirts’ second-highest scorer.
Pakistan won the coin flip and chose to bat first. Due to rain, the game was cut down to 45 overs and then to 42.
