OTD | Sri Lanka won their 6th Asia Cup title by defeating Pakistan in 2022 

Asia Cup 2022 was held in UAE and it was a perfect tune-up ahead of the T20 World Cup that was set to be held the same year. It was the first ever massive Test for Rohit Sharma who was given captaincy of the team after Virat Kohli had stepped down. 

Pakistan, led by Babar Azam, were returning to UAE where they lost to Australia in a heart-stopping game. Matthew Wade hit Shaheen Shah Afridi for three sixes to help Australia reach the T20 World Cup final in 2021 and win the tournament. 

In the end, it was Sri Lanka who took the title home most dramatically. Dasun Shanaka and his men began the tournament with a loss to Afghanistan. The former ODI World Cup winners were all out for 105 before Afghanistan won by 8 wickets. 

Sri Lanka storms to Asia Cup title

After losing their 1st game, Sri Lanka took on Bangladesh. The two heated rivals played a close game, with Sri Lanka winning by 2 wickets. This allowed the Lankan side to reach the Super 4 stages. 

In the Super 4 stages, Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan by 4 wickets and also went on to beat India by 6 wickets. Dasun Shanaka and his side then beat Pakistan by 6 wickets to enter the finals with a perfect record in the Super 4 stages. 

In the finals, Babar Azam won the toss and chose to bowl first. Naseem Shah dismissed Kusal Mendis early for a duck. Haris Rauf then got the wicket of Pathum Nissanka for 8. The right-arm pacer then got his 2nd scalp when he dismissed Danushka Gunathilaka. 

Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed then got the wickets of Dhananjaya De Silva and Dasun Shanaka to make it 58/5. This is when Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Wanindu Hasaranga added 58 runs for the 6th wicket. Rajapaksa was not out on 71 off 45 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes. 

Pakistan were set a target of 171 to win, Pramod Madushan then got the wickets of Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman early. Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed then added 71 runs for the 3rd wicket before Ahmed was out for 32 while Rizwan scored 55. In the end, Pakistan were all out for 147 as Sri Lanka won the title by 23 runs.