Having already booked their ticket for the final, India made multiple changes for their final Super 4 game against Afghanistan, including the captain. MS Dhoni went to toss for the 200th and last time in his ODI career.
After a four-year hiatus, 2022 marks the return of cricket’s oldest and only premium international continental tournament, Asia Cup. The 15th edition of the competition kicks off on Saturday, August 27 in the United Arab Emirates and will see six teams play 13 matches including the final on Sunday, September 11.
With cricket fighting the battle of identity between international games and franchise leagues, the relevance of the competition may not be the same as it once was but scrolling back the history pages, one is sure to locate some of the most remarkable games in the sport’s history. Here’s our curation of five classic Asia Cup matches, ranked in no particular order.
(For the sake of variety, we haven’t included the last five India-Pakistan Asia Cup clashes, which we have covered in a separate piece)
India vs Sri Lanka 2004, Colombo: Sri Lanka may not have been the big tournament team as it was in 1996 or as it would be for a prolonged period in the years to come but the hosts of the 2004 Asia Cup still had a strong lineup led by Marvan Atapattu. India were of course the World Cup runner ups from only a year back, comprising a perfect blend of exciting youth and experience led by Sourav Ganguly.
Powered by fifties from the skipper, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, India posted a total of 272 for the hosts. It was one Sanath Jayasuriya who kept the Lankans in the chase with his century against the fall of wickets, taking his side as far as 19 runs away from a win. With 11 runs needed in the final over, Zaheer Khan won the match for India conceding only six. A loss Sri Lanka did eventually avenge when they defeated India to lift the trophy in front of their home fans.
India vs Sri Lanka 2008, Karachi: Another meeting of the two four years later, in another final of the Asia Cup saw the rise of a Sri Lankan hero Indian fans barely knew before but would never forget after. But first, a refresher of what the situation was. Batting first, Sri Lanka were dismissed for 273, not too dissimilar a scorecard from that 2004 meeting in Colombo with Sanath Jayasuriya notching up another century. India had chased 309 on this very ground against Sri Lanka only three nights ago, with six wickets in hand and 19 balls to spare.
0 Comments