Pakistan and Lanka look to clinch Asia Cup trophy
A confident Sri Lanka will look to cap their stellar campaign with a victory over Pakistan in the Asia Cup title showdown in Dubai on Sunday.
Lanka are brimming with confidence ater notching up four consecutive victories in the tournament. They came into the tournament as underdogs and lost their first match miserably. But ater the humiliating loss against Afghanistan, they bounced back in style and won all their matches to become favourites to clinch the title.
Lanka will look to maintain the winning momentum and go into the final with a psychological advantage ater beating Pakistan in the dress rehearsal of the title showdown.
They defeated pakistan by five wickets with three overs remaining. Lanka have won all their matches by chasing. All their batsmen are in good form.
Their real strength lies in their opening. They have a very strong opening pair, who gave them a blazing start in almost all the matches and set the tone for a successful chase.
Mendis failed to open account against Pakistan so he is due for a big inning and this fact makes him more dangerous. He has been among the runs and led the chase in every match. So he is likely to stage a comeback in the final.
Players like Charith Asalanka, Danushka Gunathilaka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Dasun Shanaka consolidate the middle-order further.
Ater geting a good start, Aslanak and Gunathilaka can take the game deep before Rajapaksa and Shanaka give the final touches. Rajapaksa and Shanaka shared an unbeaten 64-run partnership against India to ensure a win ater Lanka were struggling at 114/4.
Rajapaksa, at number five, is emerging as one of the best finishers of the game. He had steered Lanka to safety against Afghanistan also. Lanka captain Shanaka predicted a tough final match despite beating Pakistan in the dress rehearsal.
“Pakistan are a very strong team and they ccan change the complexion of any match any time. They are a very unpredictable side.
“As a team, we are very excited to play the final, all the matches have been nail-biting finishes and we are looking forward to a tense final.
“As a tournament looking back this has been one of the best Asia Cups we have had, and we are looking forward to continue our form in the final as well.
Lank a’ space spear head di ls han mad hush an aka is leading their charge in the bowling along with Maheesh Theekshana.
The duo pushes the opposition on the back-foot from the beginning while spinners choke flow of the runs to mount the pressure, which mounts the batsmen to take risk and throw away their wickets. Hasranga took three wicket in the dead-rubber to throw down the gauntlet ahead of the final.
Meanwhile, Pakistan had a stellar campaign ater losing their first match against India. They also won three matches on a trot to qualify for the final before losing to Lanka in their last group match.
Despite injuries to their main players, all their players are stepping up one by one in each match, which shows their bench strength and the kind of quality players that they have at their disposal.
Mohammad Nawaz was promoted in the bating against India, he played his role and executed the plan of the captain before Asif Ali and Khushdil Shah gave it a finishing touch with sublime performances.
Against Afghanistan, Shadab Khan played a sheet-anchor role, he held the innings together before young Naseem Shah hit two successive sixes to steer them into the final.
Opener Mohammad Rizwan is in the form of his life. He has already scored two fities ater a score of 43 against India in the first match. Fakhar Zaman also scored a fity and just needs to convert his starts into big scores.
Pakistan’ s middle-order is very strong with itikh ar Ahmed, Fakhar, Shadab Khan and Khushdil. Each of them has been contributing to team’s success. In bating, their only concern is the form of Babar, who had scored 10,9, 14 and 0 in the first four innings before making a fighting 30 against Lanka in the last match.
But even without ba bar making any contribution from Babar, Pakistan have been winning the games.
In the absence of frontline bowlers like Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani and Mohd Wasim Junior, their pace batery which features Naseem, Mohd Hasnain and Haris Rauf have shouldered the responsibility well. Spinners Nawaz and Shadab can choke the flow of runs in the middle of the innings, which mounts more pressure on the batsmen in the death overs.
Lanka will look to maintain the winning momentum and go into the final with a psychological advantage ater beating Pakistan in the dress rehearsal of the title showdown