India's right-arm pacer Mohammed Siraj has scripted history in the ongoing final of the Asia Cup. The lanky pacer demolished Sri Lanka's batting order in the final and bagged a five-wicket haul, becoming only the second player to claim a fifer in the finals of the tournament. Siraj snared the wickets of Pathum Nissanka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva and Dasun Shanaka to complete his five-wicket haul.
Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis is the only bowler apart from Siraj who has claimed a five-for in Asia Cup finals. Mendis bagged his five wickets against the Men in Blue in the summit clash of the Asia Cup 2008 while playing at the National Bank Cricket Arena in Karachi. Mendis' scorching spell had ended India's hopes of chasing the target of 274.
He had bagged the wickets of Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma to remove the cream of the Indian batting order and dismissed Irfan Pathan and RP Singh to finish with figures of 6 for 13 at an amazing economy rate of 1.62.
Siraj didn't look very potent in the Super Four clashes against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. He claimed just a single wicket against the Lankan Lions in India's 41-run win and went wicketless against the Babar Azam-led side. But the Hyderabad-born pacer turned things around dramatically and his searing spell also saw him reach the milestone of 50 ODI wickets for India. His spell has put India in the ascendancy and might as well turn out to be the deciding factor in the match.
India's Playing XI:
Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Sri Lanka's Playing XI:
Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka(c), Dunith Wellalage, Dushan Hemantha, Pramod Madushan, Matheesha Pathirana
