“You get what's in your destiny,” Mohammed Siraj after decimating Sri Lanka for 50 with 6/21 in Asia Cup 2023 final

Mohammed Siraj registered the best bowling figures by a pacer in Asia Cup 2023.

Mohammed Siraj was thankful to god after his brilliant bowling helped India annihilate Sri Lanka for just 50 runs in the final of the Asia Cup 2023 on September 17, 2023, at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Dasun Shanaka, the captain of the Sri Lanka team won the toss and chose to bat first given that chasing under lights in Colombo is a tough task. He also revealed that Dushan Hemantha replaced the injured Maheesh Theekshana for the summit clash.

On the other hand, India captain Rohit Sharma, who is playing his 250th ODI confirmed that Axar Patel was replaced by Washington Sundar, and all the first-choice players who were rested against Bangladesh, returned for this final.

India got a huge advantage as the start of the play was delayed due to rain and this helped the two Indian opening bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj to swing the ball. And Bumrah gave the perfect start by removing the dangerous Kusal Perera for a duck in the first over.

Mohammed Siraj then came to the party and his amazing bowling skills got him his career-best ODI figures of 6/21.

“Feels like a dream”- Mohammed Siraj after taking 6/21

In the 4th over of the Sri Lankan innings, Siraj ended the match for the hosts. He started with the wicket of Pathum Nissanka. Then on the 3rd ball of the over, Sadeera Samarawickrama was trapped in front of the wickets for a duck by Siraj, and on the next ball, Charith Asalanka handed an easy catch to Ishan Kishan.

Siraj completed the over by having Dhananjaya de Silva caught by KL Rahul. In his next over, Siraj clean bowled Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka for a duck to complete his maiden fifer in ODIs and finally finished with figures of 6/21 as Sri Lanka was routed for 50 runs only in 15.2 overs.

After the Sri Lankan innings, Siraj had a chat with the commentators and said everything felt like a dream to him.

“Feels like a dream. Last time I did the same against Sri Lanka at Trivandrum. Got four wickets early, but couldn't get the five-for. Realized you get what's in your destiny. Did not try too much today. I have always looked for swing in white-ball cricket. Did not find much in the previous games. But today it was swinging, and I got more wickets with the outswinger. Wanted to make the batters drive,” he told Star Sports.

Siraj’s 6/21 is the best bowling figures by a pacer in Asia Cup history and he became the first bowler to take 4 wickets in an over in ODIs for India.