Tag: Asia Cup

DUBAI: Pakistan won the toss and elected to field first against Sri Lanka in the much-anticipated final of the Asia Cup 2022.

PLAYING XIs

Pakistan made two changes in the Playing XI as Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan replace Hasan Ali and Usman Qadir, while Sri Lanka remain unchanged.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Asif Ali, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain.

Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (c), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Danushka Gunathilaka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Pramod Madushan, Dilshan Madushanka.

HEAD TO HEAD (Asia Cup)

Matches-16, Sri Lanka-11, Pakistan-5

DUBAI: Two former Asian champions Pakistan and Sri Lanka will collide in the final of the Asia Cup 2022 in a bid to extend their tally of titles and seal their supremacy in the continent.

Five-time champions Sri Lanka and two-time champions Pakistan have met thrice in the Asia Cup Final in 1986, 2000, and 2014 with Sri Lanka coming out on top twice, while Pakistan only managed to win once.

The two sides will meet again in the Asia Cup final today under the sheds of the glittering Dubai International Stadium after displaying an exceptional run in the group stage and Super Four.

Both sides had an unwanted start to their Asia Cup 2022 campaign as Sri Lanka lost to Afghanistan in the curtain-raiser on August 27, while Pakistan suffered a frustrating defeat at the hands of their arch-rivals India, a day later.

The two sides then recollected themselves and won their respective group matches to make their way into the Super Four.

The next stage of the tournament marked an astounding turnaround for both teams as Sri Lanka and Pakistan both won their first two matches against India and Afghanistan to book their place in the final, forcing the latter two sides to crash out of the tournament.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka then met in the tournament’s last Super Four clash on Friday in a Final rehearsal and the Islanders secured a comfortable five-wicket victory over the Green Shirts to carry on their winning momentum.

In the anticipated final, however, Pakistan will be looking to bounce back from their Super Four defeat to end their decade-long title drought, while Sri Lanka will be looking to extend their tally to six. India, on the other hand, won must number of titles (7).
[totalpoll id=”240770″]

The Green Shirts will be taking the field with a revamped Playing XI as their key players Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan will rejoin the side for the final after resting in the Super Four clash.

Pakistan have been majorly relying on their bowling department but will be hoping for their batting to fire on the big stage including their key batters Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, and Mohammad Rizwan.

Sri Lanka, too, also rely heavily on their spin bowling while their openers Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis and captain Dasun Shanaka can play a vital role in the team’s success.

HEAD TO HEAD (Asia Cup)

Matches-16, Sri Lanka-11, Pakistan-5

DUBAI: Pakistan’s former captain and legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram declared the national team ‘favourites’ to lift the Asia Cup while he stressed that the Green Shirts should not take Sri Lanka lightly in the all-important final and learn from the experience of the previous game.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka are set to lock horns against each other on Sunday in a bid to become Asian Champions as the enthralling continental tournament draws to an end.

Legendary cricketer, Wasim stated the national team’s batting was below average yet the fast bowling remained impressive in the final dress rehearsal as Sri Lanka comprehensively defeated Pakistan by five wickets on Friday.

“Pakistan’s performance has been phenomenal throughout the Asia Cup. Unfortunately,  our batting didn’t perform well in the last game against Sri Lanka, although our fast bowling was outstanding” he said. ” I hope the team will learn from its mistakes”

“Team’s middle order is struggling. After the dismissal of Babar Azam and Rizwan, they failed to perform due to pressure,” he added.

The 56-year-old claimed the Green Shirts to be his favourites for the final while saying that the young Sri Lankan could not be taken lightly.

Talking about Pakistan skipper Babar Azam’s slump with the bat in the ongoing Asia Cup, the legendary pacer expressed optimism that the captain would regain his form in the final.

“Babar is a world-class player. He is in a bit of trouble these days. Let’s hope that he gives his best performance in the final” he concluded.

READ: Barcelona maintain unbeaten run, Atletico thump Celta 4-1 in LaLiga

DUBAI: Pakistan captain Babar Azam expressed excitement for leading his side in the final of the Asia Cup 2022 and claimed the men in green are now just one step away from lifting the trophy.

Babar, in a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) released video, opined regarding leading the side in the final of the continental event, while also claiming that his team is keen to perform well and win the tournament.

“As a captain leading a side in a final, it is exciting,” Babar stated. “We are now just one step away from our goal of winning the trophy. Every captain and team, dreams of winning the trophy. As a team, our goal is to perform well and win the tournament.

The all-format captain heaped praises on his teammates, who stood up for the team and won matches for Pakistan in this year’s Asia Cup, while also claiming that it helps pave the path for future success for the team as well.

“Looking back at this tournament, we have had some great matches and some tough contests. We have seen some great performances and different players have shone and won Player of the match awards,” Babar stated.

“When building a team, it is great for us that different players have stood up when it counts and helped the team win matches. As a captain, this is important for me, and it helps pave the path for future success for the team as well,” he concluded.

Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka, on the other hand, is confident in his team to do well in the Asia Cup 2022 Final against Pakistan and asserted that this has been one of the best Asia Cups for Sri Lanka Cricket.

“As a team, we are very excited to play the final, and Pakistan is a very good team, all the matches have been nailbiters and we are looking forward to the final,” Shanaka stated.

“As a tournament looking back this has been one of the best Asia Cups we have had, and we are looking forward to the final,” he concluded.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan will lock horns with five-time Asia Cup champions, Sri Lanka, in this year’s final, scheduled on Sunday, in a bid to lift the trophy for the third time. Pakistan last won the title in 2012 under the captaincy of Misbah-ul-Haq.

READ: Alcaraz to face Ruud for US Open title after epic semi-final triumph 

DUBAI: Pakistan’s hero of the Asia Cup Super Four clash against Afghanistan, Naseem Shah, who clinched the victory for the green shirts with two blistering hits in the final over, claimed that he has no desire of becoming an all-rounder yet.

Naseem interacted with the media here and responded to a question regarding his plans about becoming an all-rounder following his astounding blitz against Afghanistan in the tense Super Four clash and claimed that he has no such desires yet.

“In tape ball cricket and during previous batting practice sessions, I had also smashed sixes. When the opportunity arose, Allah aided me since I was trying to hit sixes if the ball came up and used to believe that a favourable moment would arrive,” Naseem stated.

“I put in a lot of effort to raise my performance. Right now, I don’t want to be an all-rounder, but I do my best to perform well whenever I get the chance to bat,” he maintained.

The right-arm speedster recalled the heated closing moments of the final-over thriller against Afghanistan and shared that he initially planned to give strike to Asif Ali, who, however, fell on the cusp of the 19th over.

“Earlier there was an attempt to give strike to Asif bhai by taking a single,” shared Naseem. “But when our nine wickets fell everyone was thinking that we have lost the match but thanks to Almighty Allah that we won that match and when I did not remember anything when I ran after hitting those sixes.”

Naseem continued by making a comment about the bat, which he had put up for auction and said he would use the proceeds to help flood victims.

“I have put the bat for the auction and I will donate the funds to the flood victims of our country,” he announced.

READ: Australia’s captain Finch calls time on his ODI career

DUBAI: Pakistan head coach Saqlain Mushtaq confirmed that the changes will be made to the Playing XI for the Asia Cup 2022 Final against Sri Lanka.

Following Pakistan’s disappointing loss to Sri Lanka in the last Asia Cup Super Four match on Friday, Saqlain assured at the post-match press conference that changes would undoubtedly be made to the Playing XI since it was important to give some of our players a rest.

“Fast bowlers are constantly playing and it is important to give them rest. We will learn from mistakes and play with passion in the final against Sri Lanka,” Saqlain said.

“It is certain that there will be changes for the final, some players were rested,” he maintained.

The head coach further opined on Pakistan’s middle-order vows and asserted that he is satisfied with the performance.

“We are playing T20 cricket well, the middle order of all teams are not scoring centuries. I will not comment much on the batting, I am happy and confident,” said Saqlain.

Saqlain then went on to comment on the recent slump in Babar Azam’s performance in the ongoing Asia Cup and stated that the latter is playing decent shots while the luck is not in the right-handed batter’s favour.

“Babar Azam has been playing well, playing good shots, but unfortunately the luck is not favouring him to go on and score big,” he claimed.

It is pertinent to mention here Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by five wickets in a dead rubber Super Four match on Friday before meeting in the final of the Asia Cup 2022.

READ: ‘We’ll not consider Pakistan an easy opponent’ Sri Lankan captain Shanaka 

DUBAI: Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka asserted that his side would not consider Pakistan an easy opponent despite beating the Green Shirts comfortably in the Asia Cup Super Four clash on Friday.

Following Sri Lanka’s comfortable five-wicket victory over Pakistan with 18 balls to spare, Shanaka, in a scheduled press conference, lauded his team’s brilliance in the Super Four stage of the tournament, while claiming that the Islanders would not take Pakistan easily.

“Our team’s performance in the Asia Cup remained quite brilliant. All the players in our team played really well in Super Four,” Shanaka stated.

“We do not consider Pakistan an easy opponent and will come strongly in the final as well,” he added.

Shanaka then went on to emphasize the importance of toss in the ongoing tournament, while also revealing the team’s strategy if they lose the toss in the final.

“The toss is very important in this tournament. If we lose the toss in the final and bat first, then we will try to score plenty of runs in the powerplay,” he concluded.

It is pertinent to mention here Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by five wickets in a dead rubber Super Four match on Friday before meeting in the final of the Asia Cup 2022.

READ: Pakistan Cricket Board unveils match officials for England T20Is 

DUBAI: Pathum Nissanka smashed a powerful 55 off 48 after spinners wreaked havoc on Pakistan’s batting line to claim a comprehensive five-wicket win over the Green Shirts on Thursday as the two side gear up for the Asia Cup final on Sunday.

Hasaranga de Silva remained impressive with the ball in the final encounter of the Super Four stage as he bagged three crucial wickets along with Maheesh Theekshana who claimed two, to restrict Pakistan to a paltry total of 121 after they were put to bat.

“I have come back strong with some good quality wickets, so happy. I tried bowling dot balls in first few overs, that’s why the three wickets came,” said Player of the match, Hasaranga in a post-match presentation.

Opener Nissanka starred with a blistering knock despite the initial blows early on in the chase as Mohammad Hasnain and Haris Rauf took wickets each in the first two overs.

Bhanuka Rajapaksa combined excellently with Nissanaka as the two stood firm for a valiant 51-run partnership after Sri Lanka were restricted to 29/3 in the fifth over.

Rajapaksa scored 24 off 19 before he fell prey to Usman Qadir in the 12th over. Skipper Dasun Shanaka, then contributed with a quick 21 off 16 and took the side towards a comfortable position in the game before Hasnain dismissed him in the 17th over.

Hasaranga, on the other hand, blasted two boundaries in the same over to finish the proceedings.

For Pakistan, Hasnain and Rauf bagged two wickets each while Usman Qadir had a wicket to his credit.

Earlier, Pakistan went for a dismal start to their innings as opener Mohammad Rizwan fell cheaply on 14 in the fourth over. None of the batters impressed with skipper Babar Azam, top scoring for the side with his cautious knock of 30 off 29.

“Our batting wasn’t up to the mark after the powerplay. We couldn’t build on from there,” said skipper Babar after the match.

Despite a valiant knock by Nawaz, late in the order,  as he smashed 26 off 18, Pakistan lost the last five wickets for the addition of mere 31 runs.

For Sri Lanka, apart from Hasaranga and Theekshana, right-arm pacer Pramod Madushan claimed two wickets while Chamika Karunaratne and Dhananjaya de Silva made a scalp apiece.

Pathum Nissanka shone with a powerful knock of unbeaten 55 off 48 to steer Sri Lanka towards a comfortable win over Pakistan by five wickets in Asia Cup Super Four stage encounter 

SL 124/5 (17 Over)

16.2: Shanaka gone. Slower ball does the trick and once again two Pakistan fielders nearly collide while taking a catch.

Hasnain to bowl his third over

SL 107/4 (16 Over)

Hasan Ali back into attack

SL 103/4 (15 Over)

Haris Rauf replaces Nawaz

SL 92/4 (14 Over)

Usman Qadir continues to bowl his last over

SL 87/4 (13 Over)

Nawaz to bowl his final over

SL 83/4 (12 Over)

11.3: Bhanuka Rajapaksa gone. The wristspinner breaks the 51-run partnership. Tosses it up, just outside off. Rajapaksa tries the slog sweep against the googly, but he’s only got the elevation.

Usman Qadir continues

SL 73/3 (11 Over)

Nawaz continues with his third

SL 68/3 (10 Over)

Usman continues

SL 57/3 (9 Over)

Nawaz continues

SL 53/3 (8 Over)

Usman Qadir joins Nawaz from the other end

SL 45/3 (7 Over)

Nawaz comes into attack

SL 37/3 (6 Over) 

Hasan Ali continues

SL 29/3 (5 Over) 

4.6: Good length ball angling into middle stump and de Silva has to offer a shot before he expected it. Tries to punch it leg side but the ball hits the face of the bat and goes high up in the air for mid off to run in and take the catch. 147kph, de Silva was definitely surprised by how quickly it got to him

Haris Rauf to bowl his second

SL 22/2 (4 Over) 

Hasan Ali comes into attack

SL 7/2 (3 Over) 

Hasnain continues

SL 3/2 (2 Over) 

1.2: Gunathilaka tried to set the tone by hitting a cut square, but the extra bounce induces the edge and Rizwan snaps this up! And he’s displayed some mega air time diving to his left

Haris Rauf to bowl from the other end

SL 2/1 (1 Over) 

0.2: The aggressive Kusal Mendis pokes at a short-ish ball that was seaming away from him. Played away from his body, takes the edge, and it floats into the hands of first slip.

Mohammad Hasnain to open the bowling attack for Pakistan. Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis to open Sri Lankan batting

PAKISTAN VS SRI LANKA (2nd INNING)

Spinners wreaked havoc on Pakistan batting line as Sri Lanka restricted the Green Shirts to 121 in the first innings of the Asia Cup 2022 Super Four encounter

PAK 121/9 (19 Over)

18.5: Mohammad Nawaz run out. Goes back and across, pulls this to deep midwicket, and risks a second. Nawaz dives in, but he falls short. Lovely throw on the top of the stumps

Madushanka continues to bowl the second last over

PAK 110/8 (18 Over)

17.5: Qadir tries the big slog sweep here but this is an offbreak that turns away from him outside off, and he gets a massive top edge to deep midwicket

Theekshana to bowl his last over

PAK 102/7 (17 Over)

Madushanka back into the attack

PAK 95/7 (16 Over)

15.6: Hasan shuffles across to try the big sweep, but is nowhere near the pitch, gets a massive top edge to be caught at deep square leg

Theekshana comes back to bowl 16th

PAK 91/6 (15 Over)

14.6: Hasaranga castles Asif Ali. He has picked the wrong’un, looks to play Hasaranga out, but the ball doesn’t turn as much and beats his outside edge to hit the off stumps

14.5: Hasaranga strikes right back. He shortens the length this time, Iftikhar still tries the slog-sweep, and might have connected still, but the ball stays low and deflects off his pad onto the wicket

Hasaranga to bowl his last

PAK 84/4 (14 Over)

13.3:  Khushdil skips down the wicket, but not quite to its pitch, and the ball turns too. Gets the toe end and skies it to long-on

Dhananjaya de Silva to bowl his final over

PAK 80/3 (13 Over)

Theekshana comes back to bowl his second

PAK 78/3 (12 Over)

Dhananjay de Silva back into the attack

PAK 74/3 (11 Over)

10.4: Babar sees the legbreak all right, goes down the track, swings across the line, but the ball just goes straight on to get him bowled

Hasaranga continues

PAK 66/2 (10 Over)

9.2: Fakhar picks the biggest part of the ground.  Seems like a decent hit, and perhaps would have been six from the other end. Here he finds deep this, Hasaranga, who times his leap to perfection

Chamika Karunaratne to bowl his first

PAK 62/1 (9 Over)

Hasaranga continues

PAK 60/1 (8 Over)

Dhananjaya to bowl the 8th

PAK 53-1 (7 Over)

Hasaranga comes into attack

PAK 49-1 (6 Over)

Madushan continues

PAK 34-1 (5 Over)

Dhananjaya de Silva joins the attack

PAK 34-1 (4 Over)

3.3: First wicket for Madushan. Wide length ball, gets some swing away, Rizwan has had enough half-hits, he is going for the big one, but the swing undoes him. Starts off thinking he will go over mid-off, but the swing means he is dragging it. All he manages is a top edge to short fine leg

Pramodh Madushan comes into attack

PAK 25-0 (3 Over)

Madushanaka continues

PAK 19-0 (2 Over)

Maheesh Theekshana to bowl from the other end

PAK 11-0 (1 Over)

Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam come out to open for Pakistan, Madushanka to bowl first over

PAKISTAN VS SRI LANKA (1ST INNING)

DUBAI: Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field first against Pakistan in the Super Four stage encounter of Asia Cup 2022.

PLAYING XIs

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Usman Qadir, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain

Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (C) , Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Pramodh Madushan

HEAD TO HEAD

Matches-21, Pakistan-13, Sri Lanka-8

DUBAI: Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field first against Pakistan in the Super Four stage encounter of Asia Cup 2022. 

The two team will also lock horns in the final on Sunday.

PLAYING XIs

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Usman Qadir, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain

Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (C) , Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Parmodh Madushan