Pakistan and Sri Lanka the co-hosts of Asia Cup 2023 meet today at Lankan Capital Colombo to settle which team will meet India in the final on 17 September.
Both team after playing two matches in the group of four with one win and one loss have two points. But Pakistan losing by larger margin against India has the disadvantage of an inferior ran rate. In case of rain ruining the match Sri Lanka will advance to the final. Sri Lanka also have the advantage of playing at home. Pakistani players off course are playing cricket in Sri Lanka for the last couple of months. It promises to be a fascinating contest of the two evenly matched teams.
There were threats of rain ruining most matches of the group of four. Rain interrupted but fortunately apart from the Pakistan-India match which had a reserve day there was not much rain interruptions. Pakistan is handicapped with the injury of two of their key bowlers Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah. They have flown in Zaman Khan and Shahnawaz Dhani as forced replacement. With world cup knocking at the door Pakistan will not risk playing them. The absence of two first choice weapons of their attack will significantly weaken Pakistan.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka playing their second-choice bowlers from the start of the tournament has a settled team. Their spinners have rocked. Even their rookie left arm spinner Dinuth Wellalage almost single handedly won the match against mighty India. The relatively unknown bowler Charith Assalanka also impressed. Sri Lanka also have x-factors Mathesha Pathirana and Mahesh Theekshana. Pakistan batsmen have task at hand.
A good innings is overdue from Babar Azam, the number one ranked batsman of ODI. He appeared a bit out of touch in the tournament. Apart from a brilliant century against Nepal in the first match, his bat did not talk so far. Neither did Fakhar Zaman, Rizwan impress. It is a do or die match for Pakistan. They will be very keen to earn a date against their archrival India in the final. This is the 15th Asia Cup. Pakistan and India have never met in the final.
Of the Sri Lankan batsmen much will depend on Karunaratne, Nissanka, Medis and Dhananjaya to spark. If Sri Lanka put together a score of 280 plus their inform bowlers can defend.
Though ACC and cricket admirers across the cricket world love to see yet another blockbuster Pakistan -India derby yet it seems an India -Sri Lanka final again. Let th e team playing better cricket win today.
BDST: 1016 HRS, SEP 14, 2023
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