Cricket

'There is hope'- Twitter rejoices as Sri Lanka write an underdog story in the Asia Cup final, defeating Pakistan by 23 runs

Sri Lanka, the underdogs of the tournament came up with a quality perfromace in the Asia Cup Final and thumped Pakistan to

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Daniel S
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Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka: (Image Source: Twitter)

Sri Lanka and Pakistan went head to head for Asia Cup supremacy in the Asia Cup final on Sunday. With great odds against them, Sri Lanka proved everyone wrong and clinched a statement by winning the Asia Cup final.

As is the norm, Pakistan chose to bowl first after winning the toss and asked Sri Lanka to set a target on the board. Coming onto bat first, the Sri Lanka batting started off in poor fashion as they lost their openers quite cheaply. Both inform batters, Pathum Nisanka (8) and Kushal Mendis (0) departed cheaply before the team could cross 30-run mark.

The next batter, Dhanajaya de Silva strung a decent knock of 28 but could not take the team further as he departed as well. Bhanuka Rajapaksa, however, held the fort from one end and produced a sensational 71* in just 45 balls to help his team move to 170/6 after a disastrous start. Wanindu Hasaranga continued his rich vein of form as he hit 36 in just 21 deliveries. Haris Rauf took three wickets but did not receive any help from other bowlers later in the innings as Pakistan let Sri Lanka get to a decent total despite threatening early on.

Coming on to chase what seemed like a good total, the Pakistan team was again let down by captain Babar Azam as he departed at just 5. Mohammad Rizwan was again the best batter for the Men in Green as he came up with a solid half-century (55) and got past Virat Kohli' tally of runs in the process. However, he got out just when he should have changed gears and played aggressively.

The pressure to keep up with the required run-rate had led to fall of wickets in quick succession in the final few overs of the innings. Hasaranga and Pramod Madhusudan both combined to take seven wickets and subjected Pakistan to a 23-run defeat.

Sri Lanka, who were struggling prior to the Asia Cup, came up with a heroic team performance and defeated both India and Pakistan to clinch the Asia Cup Final and gave a statement to all the other teams.

Let's look at how Twitter reacted to Sri Lanka's victory in the Asia Cup 2022: 

 

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