Mohammed Siraj’s six-wicket burst sets up India’s Asia Cup triumph

Don’t let a win get to your head, or a loss to your heart. If this sporting adage held true in recent times, then it was in relation to the Indian cricket team. Ranked third in ODI heading into the 2023 Asia Cup, but without a single multi-team trophy to show for since 2018, when a team led by Rohit Sharma lifted the same trophy by beating Bangladesh in Dubai, India overcame a serious injury concern, some middling form and the Sri Lankan rain to be crowned Asian champions.

If India entered the Asia Cup with not much going for them, after six matches they underlined what can be done when things go right. So right in fact, that a record 228-run win over pre-tournament favourites Pakistan sent Babar Azam’s team into such a dramatic downfall that suddenly they look like a disheveled and disjointed team. And that win right there, sealed on a contentious reserve day after India stormed their way to 356 for the loss of just two wickets, was where the team’s Asia Cup campaign was transformed in stunning manner. But India did not let that win go to their heads, and neither did they take a needless loss to Bangladesh in their final league match to heart, after making five changes.

Because two days later, against hosts Sri Lanka in front of a partisan crowd at the Premadasa Stadium, Rohit’s team sent out an emphatic statement ahead of next month’s World Cup. For an Indian cricket team with genuine designs on lifting the most coveted prize of all at home, Sunday’s one-sided demolition of defending Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka, trigged in emphatic manner by Mohammed Siraj who took 6/21, was as perfect as it could get.

Lose the toss, bowl first under grey skies and with rain around. Reduce Sri Lanka to 12 for 5, with Siraj claiming four wickets in one over, and then eventually rolling the opposition out for 50 and winning by ten wickets with 263 deliveries remaining. Seldom has the modern era of cricket seen a major tournament final end so swiftly and be so one-sided.

This is a statement win, if ever there was one, from India.

For Siraj to reduce Sri Lanka’s batting lineup – one which, we must accept, was too dependent on numbers three, four and five – to tatters in the span of 12 deliveries was mesmeric and unprecedented. On a slow pitch, and helped by some rain before the delayed start, Siraj used spin-friendly conditions to conjure an unforgettable spell of swing bowling befitting a gloomy morning at Headingley. Pace, movement, bounce and accuracy all sent a jittery Sri Lankan lineup crashing to the lowest ODI total versus India as Siraj became the first Indian bowler in history to claim four wickets in an over.

So overawed were Sri Lanka by this surprise burst of bowling that their shot selection left them looking like sitting plastic ducks at a circus shooting gallery. And this is the reason why Siraj is held in such high esteem within the Indian team, and precisely why he will play more World Cup matches than Mohammed Shami. Earlier this year, when he was briefly ranked No 1 in ODIs, Siraj effected another awful performance from Sri Lanka in a dead rubber match in Visakhapatnam. On that day, set a target of 391, Sri Lanka were rolled over for 73 in 22 overs with Siraj claiming figures of 10-1-32-4.

Sunday in Colombo shoved that crippling spell into the background. This was a final, with the Indian cricket team searching for its first major trophy in five years, and they had lost the toss. Jasprit Bumrah got the ball rolling with another customary wicket, and then Siraj took over. Seldom have one-day finals been so utterly one-sided.

India cruised to victory in 6.2 overs, with the rejuvenated Shubman Gill not out 27 to finish as the Asia Cup’s leading run-getter. Gill, Bumrah and the returning KL Rahul are India’s three big positives from the tournament and four days from now, when the first of three ODIs versus Australia is played, it will be the team’s last chance to unearth a few more before the World Cup.

A dramatic upswing could not have been timed better. Now, the big question is: How will India’s Asia Cup title win impact them at the World Cup?