IND Vs SL ODI Asia Cup 2023 FINAL: The two most successful teams in Asia will fight it out to win the ODI Asia Cup 2023 tournament.
India and Sri Lanka have been the two best teams of this year’s event. India will play their 10th final and they won 7 titles till now.
Sri Lanka will play their 11th final and they won this competition 6 times so far.
The Lankan Tigers were also the winners of the last year’s Asia Cup which was played in the shortest format. Shanaka and his men won the finals against Pakistan in Asia Cup 2022.
The final of the ODI Asia Cup 2023 will be played tomorrow, Sunday, 17th September 2023 at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
The batters of team India will be tested against spin in the ODI Asia Cup 2023 final against Sri Lanka. India lost the last match of the Super Four versus the Bangla Tigers yesterday by a margin of six runs.
That game was played at the same venue where the finals will be played tomorrow.
Virat, Hardik, Bumrah, Kuldeep and Siraj who were rested in yesterday’s game will be back to play the ODI Asia Cup 2023 Final. But India needs to find answers when these five above-mentioned players are not available.
The men in the blue side won all the matches when these five match-winning players were there in their playing eleven.
The Indian bowlers had the Bangladeshi batters on the mat. But India’s bowling in the backend overs is still a worry and that was the reason why Bangladesh was able to pile up 265 runs on the board despite being in a reeling position at one stage.
Apart from Gill’s 121 runs and Axar’s 42 runs, none of the batters could contribute in a run chase.
Now with Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya back again, the batting looks good on paper. However, the Sri Lankan spin bowlers had troubled the batting powerhouse of the men in blue side when they met in the second match of the super four round.
Wellalage picked up 5 wickets and Asalanka got four wickets to his name in that match.
The issue is with Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur’s batting. Jaddu has bowled well until now and Thakur has done a decent job as well.
But India needs their lower-order batters to fire especially when the top order doesn’t bat well. India hasn’t scored those extra runs with the bat and that was the reason why they lost their first match in the ODI Asia Cup 2023 yesterday before the finals.
Boom Boom Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav have been excellent in the ODI Asia Cup 2023 so far. These two quality bowlers will have to do well in the finals of this tournament as well.
Boom Boom has been too good in the initial overs with the new ball and Kuldeep has struck in the middle phase of an ODI innings, which is why the teams have found it difficult when they have played against India till now.
Talking about the hosts, Sri Lanka, their bowling has been magnificent up to now. They have missed quite a few regular players in this ODI Asia Cup 2023 tournament.
But the other young players have stepped up and made sure that their team reaches the finals just like last year.
One can say that Sri Lanka is the favourite to win the grand finale tomorrow in Colombo because of their bowling.
The only issue with them is their batting in the top order. Their openers haven’t contributed much in the ODI Asia Cup 2023 so far. Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Perera should not be included.
Kusal Mendis can open the innings with Pathum Nissanka. Kusal Mendis has been in decent form.
Asalanka is another batter who is a great nick as well. Kasun Rajitha can be added in the playing XI of the ODI Asia Cup 2023 Final.
India - Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishan Kishan(wk), Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah.
Sri Lanka - Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis(wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka(c), Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Pramod Madushan, Matheesha Pathirana and Kasun Rajitha.
Batters – Kusal Mendis, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul
Bowlers – Jasprit Bumrah, Dunith Wellalage, Kuldeep Yadav
All-rounders – Hardik Pandya and Dasun Shanaka
Wicket-keeper – Ishan Kishan
Vice-captain – Charith Asalanka
Captain – Ravindra Jadeja
Toss Timings – 2.30 PM Indian Standard Time (IST) and Local, 9 AM GMT
Match Timings – 3 PM Indian Standard Time (IST) and Local, 9.30 AM GMT
Television Channels – Star Sports and Star Gold for Hindi Commentary
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