(Image source: X.com/@ICC)
[Saba Sports News] India won the Asia Cup 2023 final by 10 wickets by beating Sri Lanka.
The hosts won the toss and elected to bat first, managing to post a total of only 50 runs in 15.2 overs. India chased down the target in 6.1 overs and won the Asia Cup for the 8th time. In the final, Siraj took six wickets in 42 balls and recorded his best-ever bowling figures in ODI cricket.
Siraj, whose rise in white-ball cricket is memorable, led India to a remarkable victory and finished as the highest wicket-taker for India in the multi-nation tournament with 10 scalps to his name. Siraj’s bowling figures in the final were 7-1-21-6.
The 29-year-old in an interview acknowledged that he’s satisfied with his performance as he picked up his maiden ODI five-wicket haul, that too against Sri Lanka. Against them, he had missed a fifer in the third ODI of the series played earlier this year in Trivandrum.
“This is a dream because earlier this year against Sri Lanka, I had picked up four wickets early but couldn’t complete a five-wicket haul. But I realised you only get what is written in the stars for you,” Siraj was quoted as saying.
Siraj also emphasized that he didn’t try too hard, and that strategy worked for him eventually. He shared his bowling mantra that helped him run riot in Colombo.
“So today my plan was to keep it simple, not try too hard and it worked for me. To be honest, my only thing was to go for a swing in white-ball cricket. I did not get much swing in the earlier matches so today when I noticed movement, plan was to make the batters play forward as much as possible. I got all of them bowling outside off which was all the more satisfying,” he concluded.