Sri Lanka reached the final of Asia Cup by beating Pakistan by 2 wickets in a thriller of a match at R.Premadasa Cricket Stadium on Friday (15th September). Kusal Mendis' exceptional 91 and Charith Asalanka's clutch 49* took SL home in a thriller of a match. Iftikhar Ahmed's brillant breakthroughs followed by Shaheen Afridi's fantastic last over couldn’t take Pakistan home.

Earlier, for continuous rain irruptions the match was reduced to 42 overs each and then Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first. Pakistan didn’t have a solid start as they lost their opener Fakhar Zaman at the start of the innings. Pramod Madushan removed Fakhar and gave Sri Lanka a brilliant start. Babar and Abdullah Shafique then stitched a partnership of 64 runs but Babar fell to young venomous Dunith Wellalage for 29 off 35 deliveries. Shafique on the other hand notched up a fifty and scored 52 off 69 balls and was removed by Matheesha Pathirana. Mohammad Haris and Mohammad Nawaz didn’t get going as Pakistan had a trouble in middle order. Pakistan soon fell to 130-5.

However Iftikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Rizwan started to get going for Pakistan. Both of them rotated strikes properly and smashed boundaries at regular intervals. Rizwan notched up a brilliant fifty. And the duo added 108 to the tally before Iftikhar fell to Matheesha Pathirana for 47 off 40 deliveries. Rizwan's continuous stroke making helped him to reach 86 from just 73 deliveries and he was unbeaten till the end. And Pakistan posted 252-7 after alloted 42 overs.

In reply, Sri Lanka had a flying start as Kusal Perera's brief stay gave them a solid start. But an unlucky run out saw him getting out scoring 17 off 8 balls. Pathum Nissanka scored 29 from 44 balls and was cut off by Shadab Khan. And then the real game started with Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama gave Pakistan a heart ache with their match turning partnership. The duo absolutely were rocking over Pakistani bowlers and were pummeling them. Kusal Mendis brought up a very crucial fifty and he was going strong. The partnership was worth of 100 runs before Iftikhar removed Sadeera Samarawickrama for a fine 48 off 51 balls.

Charith Asalanka was the next man to come in and he didn’t take time to take runs. But his partner Kusal Mendis fell to Iftikhar on 91 and the wicket brought Pakistan back in the game. They needed 41 off 40 balls to win the game. Iftikhar kept Pakistan in the game by picking up the wicket of Lankan skipper Shanaka. Sri Lanka needed 28 off last 4 overs. Asalanka kept SL in track with his timely boundaries and they needed 12 off last 2 overs.

Shaheen Afridi was with the ball and he picked up two wickets on the trot and was pumped up as SL needed 8 off last 6 deliveries. They'd dots followed by a run out and the equation went down to 6 off last 2 deliveries. And Asalanka smashed back to back boundaries to take his team final of Asia Cup 2023.