The United Arab Emirates (UAE) hosted the Asia Cup in 2022, and there was a strong trend in favour of teams chasing, making the final toss an important one to win. When Babar Azam made the right decision and chose to field, the odds were already stacked in Pakistan’s favour. When Sri Lanka was reduced to 58/5 in the ninth over, things took a turn for the worst. But after that, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Wanindu Hasaranga, Pramod Madushan, and a masterful fielding performance helped them defeat Pakistan with relative ease to earn their sixth Asia Cup championship.
Sri Lanka knocked Pakistan out for 147 to win the match by 23 runs.
Prior to the tournament’s championship game, the team batting first had triumphed just three times in 11 games.
In two of those, India and Pakistan defeated Hong Kong, while in the third, Virat Kohli’s century helped India defeat an exhausted Afghanistan team that had just played two days in a row.
Dasun Shanaka, the captain of Sri Lanka, recognised before the toss that his team faced challenges because they were given the opportunity to bat, but he still believed they could prevail.
After the game, he claimed that the team was inspired by the IPL 2021 championship, in which the Chennai Super Kings batted first and won.