India delivered a champion performance in the final of the Asia Cup to batter Sri Lanka and claim their record-eighth title in the history of the tournament (including the ODI and the T20I formats) on Sunday, September 17 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
The Men in Blue rattled Sri Lanka's batting order and bundled them out for a mere 50 runs in just 15.2 overs. Mohammed Siraj proved to be the man of the moment for the Rohit Sharma-led side as he single-handedly ripped through the batting order of Sri Lanka.
Siraj grabbed a six-for and didn't let any of the Sri Lankan batters get their eyes in at any stage of the game. India's bowling effort in the summit clash was so effective that only two of the Lankan batters were able to reach the double digits.
India's captain Rohit seemed delighted with the team's performance in the summit clash and lauded the seamers after the win.
"It was a great performance, especially to come and play like that in a final. Shows the mentality of the team. Our seamers are actually working really hard for many years, so it's pleasing for the side to see them rewarded like that. Very clinical. A performance like that will be cherished for a very long time. I never thought the ball was going to be doing that much, again it comes back to the skillset of the individuals," said Rohit during the post-match presentation.
India will now take on five-time ODI world champions Australia in a three-match 50-overs series at home. Australia have already announced their squad for the series and it marks the return of their several star players - Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell. India are yet to announce their team for the bilateral contest.
