10-wicket thrashing of Sri Lanka<\/a> in the Asia Cup final as \u201ca booster shot\u201d Monday for the one-day World Cup starting on home soil in a fortnight.<\/p>\nPace bowler Mohammed Siraj got four wickets in one over to help skittle Sri Lanka out for 50 on Sunday, a total the Indian openers Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill surpassed in 6.1 overs.<\/p>\n
It was India\u2019s eighth Asia Cup crown but first major tournament title since winning the same competition in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cSiraj\u2019s dream spell ended India\u2019s five-year title drought,\u201d The Times of India<\/em> wrote.<\/p>\nThe India Express<\/em> called it a \u201cBooster shot before World Cup\u201d and praised what it called the team\u2019s \u201cclinical and ruthless\u201d performance.<\/p>\n\u201cTriumph lifts India\u2019s morale\u2026 just in time for the mega-event,\u201d it added, referring to the World Cup, which starts on October 5.<\/p>\n
In the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, where the final took place, the mood was gloomy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbject surrender of Asia Cup by Sri Lanka,\u201d said a headline in the daily FT<\/em> newspaper.<\/p>\nThe home team were bowled out in just 15.2 overs with Siraj ripping through the Sri Lankan batting with his 6-21.<\/p>\n
Sri Lanka were playing their 11th Asia Cup final but the 116-minute humiliation left fans disappointed and angry.<\/p>\n
One fan complained in a video post on social media that Sri Lanka were all out even before he could get to his seat at the 35,000-capacity Premadasa stadium.<\/p>\n
Another on social media said the Sri Lankan innings lasted less than the time taken to drink a bottle of arak, the island nation\u2019s firewater spirit made from fermented coconut or sugarcane.<\/p>\n
Colombo\u2019s Daily Mirror<\/em> said the final was a \u201cmismatch between two opponents in completely different weight classes.<\/p>\n\u201cAs heavyweights India completely battered, bruised, bloodied and bashed-in Sri Lanka\u2019s flyweight batting line-up for an emphatic 10-wicket win. \u201c<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
India celebrated the 10-wicket thrashing of Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final as \u201ca booster shot\u201d Monday for the one-day World Cup starting on home soil in a fortnight. Pace bowler Mohammed Siraj got four wickets in one over to help skittle Sri Lanka out for 50 on Sunday, a total the Indian openers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2023\/09\/1816031849d943e.jpg?r=160453","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t