Sri Lanka beat Pakistan to reach Asia Cup 2023 final

COLOMBO: Charith Asalanka displayed nerves of steel to lead Sri Lanka to the Asia Cup 2023 final with a thrilling two-wicket victory over Pakistan.

Pakistani bowlers fought back in the final overs and took back-to-back wickets, however, Charith Asalanka made no mistake and led his team to the Asia Cup final on the last bowl of the final over.

Aslanka scored not out 49 off 47 balls, whereas, the top scorer was Kusal Mendis with 91 runs off 87 balls and Sadeera Samarawickrama scored 48 off 51 balls.

Iftikhar Ahmed took three wickets, Shaheen Shah Afridi two and Shadab Khan took one wicket in the match.

Opting to bat first, Pakistan raised a commendable total of 252/7 after the all-important Asia Cup 2023 fixture was reduced to 42 overs a side due to rain interruption.

The hosts once again got off to a shaky start to their innings as their out-of-form opener Fakhar Zaman (4) failed to score big and was castled by Pramod Madushan in the fourth over with just nine runs on the board.

Following the early dismissal, Pakistan captain Babar Azam joined Abdullah Shafique at the crease and the pair knitted an anchoring 64-run partnership.

The duo of Babar and Abdullah had put Pakistan in a strong position before Dunith Wellalage got Babar stumped to mark Sri Lanka’s comeback.

Rizwan and Iftikhar turned the game on its head with a brisk 108-run partnership for the sixth wicket which ended when the latter perished in the penultimate over.

Iftikhar fell just three short of his half-century, scoring 47 off just 40 deliveries, hitting four boundaries and two sixes.

Mohammad Rizwan, however, carried his bat all the way through and top-scored for Pakistan with an unbeaten 86-run knock from 73 deliveries, laced up with six boundaries and two sixes.

Matheesha Pathirana led the bowling attack for Sri Lanka in an all-important Asia Cup 2023 fixture with 3/65 in his eight overs, followed by Pramod Madushan’s 2/58.

Maheesh Theekshana and Dunith Wellalage made one scalp each.