“Enjoy the victory as entire country will”: Mahela Jayawardena applauds Sri Lanka as they lift Asia Cup 2022 title by defeating Pakistan in Dubai

Mahela Jayawardena applauds Sri Lanka as they lift the Asia Cup 2022 title in what turned out to be a one-sided affair versus Pakistan.

Sri Lanka have defeated Pakistan by 23 runs in the grand finale at the Dubai International Stadium, to lift the Asia Cup 2022 title, and their sixth overall as far as the continental championship is concerned.

On a venue which has had majority of the T20I results off-late going in the favour of chasing sides, the Dasun Shanaka-led side were at their absolute best, especially on the field, in the night of the final.

En route the challenging target of 171, Pakistan were in with a chance to pull the chase off, with 8 wickets in the bank till the 13-Over mark.

However, with the required run-rate skyrocketing with each passing Over, and the set Pakistan batters – Mohammad Rizwan (55 off 49) in particular, just not being able to get going, the pressure finally grabbed them by both the arms, as the rest of the line-up were perhaps left with too many -requiring 70 runs off the last five Overs.

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Ultimately, all they could manage was post 147/10 on the scoreboard, with Chamika Karunaratne (4-0-33-2) picking up the final Pakistani wicket off the last ball of the Asia Cup 2022 final.

Mahela Jayawardena applauds Sri Lanka

Former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardena, took to his social media handle, to hail Sri Lanka’s brilliant team effort not only tonight, but during the entire duration of the tournament.

Applauding the team’s passion and character while playing for the country, Jayawardena also exclaimed that it was a good Toss to lose, as Sri Lanka took full advantage of the scoreboard pressure, with extraordinary fielding effort to act as the cherry on the cake.

The victory could not have been possible without the stellar innings under pressure played by the ‘Player of the final’ Bhanuka Rajapaksa (71* off 45), at a stage when the team was down to 67/5 after 10 Overs.