Mohammed Siraj delivered a dream opening spell in Asia Cup 2023 final between India and Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Even though it was Sri Lanka who had won the toss and chose to bat first in this high-pressure game, India got off to a splendid start courtesy of their pacers led with Siraj hogging the limelight on Sunday (September 17).
While Jasprit Bumrah struck in his very first over, it was Siraj's second over and the fourth over of the innings which really put Sri Lanka to almost an unrecoverable position in the match. Siraj started with a maiden over and in his very next over, he got rid of Pathum Nissanka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya de Silva off the first, third, fourth and sixth ball of the over. He conceded just four runs while picking up four wickets, narrowly missing out on a hat-trick.
The video of his four-wicket over has been shared by the official broadcasters Star Sports.
Take a look:
Three of the four wickets that Siraj scalped were caught out while the dismissal of Samarawickrama was LBW. However, the batter went for a DRS referral which Sri Lanka lost. In the very next over, Siraj came back to complete his fifer as he rattled the stumps of Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka to reduce them to leave the team at 12/6. Notably, India had already beaten Sri Lanka once in the tournament in their Super Four face off and given the start that they have got here, they seem favourites to clinch the title this time around.