Sri Lanka squeeze through to Asia Cup final in last ball thriller

Friday, 15 September 2023 00:40 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Charith Asalanka saw off Sri Lanka to her 11th Asia Cup final

Kusal Mendis was Man of the Match for his 91 runs

Kusal Mendis sets up successful run chase with classy 91, Asalanka scores winning runs with gritty 49 not out

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Vice-captain Kusal Mendis played a gem of an innings to guide defending champions Sri Lanka to the final of the Asia Cup when they beat Pakistan by two wickets in a thrilling Super4 match played at the R Premadasa Stadium and won off the last ball.

Sri Lanka will play India in the final on Sunday, reaching the final for the eleventh time in their history.

Both teams came with a chance of entering the final and despite interruptions for rain which cut the contest down to 42 overs a side, Sri Lanka came up trumps, but not before Pakistan fought tooth and nail to swing the game in their favour.

Pakistan, choosing to bat first, reached a challenging 252-7. Sri Lanka’s target score under the DLS method was also 252. At one point Sri Lanka were cruising to victory on the back of a 98-ball 100-run stand between Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama (48 off 51 balls, 4 fours).

Sri Lanka reached 210-3 in the 36th over when the wheels suddenly started to fall apart following the dismissal of Mendis for a splendid 91 off 87 balls (8 fours, 1 six).

Dasun Shanaka (2), Dhananjaya de Silva (5), Dunith Wellalage (0) and Promod Madushan (1) all fell within the space of four overs with Shaheen Afridi picking up two in two balls.

It was eventually left to the cool head of Charith Asalanka to see Sri Lanka over the line in a tense finish. With eight needed off the final over Asalanka lost Madushan to a run out but kept a cool head to hit the penultimate ball for four and clip Zaman Khan off his pads for a couple off the final ball to set off celebrations from the Sri Lankan dugout. Asalanka finished unbeaten on 49 scored off 47 balls (3 fours, 1 six) and had Matheesha Pathirana as his partner at the other end.

Sri Lanka bowlers did well to capture five wickets for 130 in the 28th over before play was interrupted by rain. However, on resumption Pakistan came up with a tremendous performance to race to 252-7 with 102 runs coming off the final 10 overs. Mohammad Rizwan changed gears to rack up a 73-ball 86* (6 fours, 2 sixes) and with Ifthikar Ahmed contributing 47 off 40 balls (4 fours, 2 sixes) Pakistan had a target to defend. How well they came quite close to defending it despite the absence of two of their key bowlers Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf.

India plays Bangladesh today in the final Super4 match which will have no bearing on the final standings.