Asia Cup 2023 final: Favourites India set sights on eighth title, Sri Lanka bank on home advantage

India and Sri Lanka know a thing or two about success as far as the Asia Cup is concerned. These two sides, after all, have reached more finals since the turn of the millennium than either Pakistan or Bangladesh have in the history of the competition.

They also happen to have a total of 13 titles between them, with India slightly ahead on that count with seven.

It is, therefore, only fair to assume they’re used to seeing each other in the final hurdle of the Asian Cricket Council’s premier event. Sunday’s showdown will be the eighth instance of India and Sri Lanka battling it out for Asian supremacy. And the Men in Blue have the bragging rights as far as their head-to-head record in Asia Cup finals is concerned, leading their neighbours to the south east 4 to 3.

Read | IND vs SL Head-to-head, records in ODIs, stats from Premadasa

With the a majority of the tournament taking place in their backyard, defending champions Sri Lanka will certainly be backing themselves to win consecutive titles. A seventh title would make them the joint-most successful team in Asia Cup history alongside India.

The Men in (light) Blue, however, have been the team to beat in this tournament, as far as their performance against Pakistan in the Super 4s would suggest. Vanquishing a full-strength team led by Rohit Sharma therefore, is going to take quite the effort on the part of Dasun Shanaka’s men.

Fitness worries for Team India

India were dealt a wake-up call in the form of a six-run defeat at the hands of Bangladesh — their first Asia Cup loss against the Tigers since 2012 — on Friday.

As disappointing as the defeat was, especially with Shubman Gill’s magnificent 121 going in vain, the defeat gave skipper Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid some valuable insight into how their reserves were pulling up ahead of both the Asia Cup final and the ICC World Cup that India hosts next month.

The match also added to India’s worries as far as the fitness of some of their players is concerned. Axar Patel produced quite the counter-attack with the bat with his 34-ball 42, taking the game to the very end before falling prey to Mustafizur Rahman’s guile. Though, in the process, he ended up injuring his hamstring.

Not only did that niggle rule him out of the final, the left-arm spinner will also miss India’s three ODIs against Australia and also appears doubtful for the initial phase of India’s World Cup campaign.

Also a worry for the Indians ahead of the final is the fitness of Shreyas Iyer, who had been left out of the XI in the Super 4s clash against Pakistan due to a back spasm and hasn’t been in action since.

Iyer is a vital cog in the Indian middle order and provided the solution to India’s No. 4 dilemma in the build-up to the World Cup. His recent fitness woes however, makes one wonder if he was rushed into action in the Asia Cup and perhaps could have waited till the Australia ODIs to make his long-awaited return.

As far as Axar is concerned, India have drafted Washington Sundar into the squad but will not likely need his services given they do have Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur as their all-rounders.

Lankans look towards spin department

Fitness concerns have not affected India alone in the Asia Cup. Pakistan pacer Naseem Shah injured his shoulder against India, and things have deteriorated to the extent that his participation in the World Cup appears doubtful.

It has also affected the Sri Lankan team. Off-spinner Maheesh Theekshana has been ruled out of the final after “straining his hamstring” while fielding during their virtual semi-final against Pakistan, which they ended up winning in thrilling fashion to enter the final.

The ‘hosts’ have drafted in a like-for-like replacement in Sahan Arachchige, who made his international debut during the World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe in July. Like Sundar, though, Arachchige is unlikely to be drafted into the XI for the big final, given Sri Lanka also have a leg-spinner in Dushan Hemantha in their squad who could lend some variety to their attack.

Read | How Sri Lanka can trouble India in Asia Cup 2023 Final

Sri Lankan spinners had grabbed all 10 wickets and had played a key role in halting India’s charge after skipper Rohit went on a rampage in the first powerplay. Nine of those wickets were shared between Dunith Wellalage (5/40) and Charith Asalanka (4/18) on a Premadasa pitch that was vastly different from the one used in the India-Pakistan Super 4s encounter.

And despite the fact that they have some talented pacers in their lineup, Sri Lanka are likely to deploy spin as their primary weapon against Rohit and Co.

Wellalage had quite the outing against the Indians, following up his maiden international five-for with an unbeaten 42 runs that briefly gave the Lankans hope of chasing down the 214-run target. The 20-year-old became the talk of the town after that performance, but will have also made him a primary target.

As for their batting lineup, Sri Lanka had made one key change at the top of the order by bringing in Kusal Perera as Pathum Nissanka’s opening partner in place of Dimuth Karunaratne.

Karunaratne’s run tally had barely crossed 50 in four outings with a strike rate of 72, and it was clear his presence was hindering the Lankans from starting swiftly.

Though Perera was dismissed for 17 against Pakistan, he struck four boundaries in eight deliveries. The dashing wicketkeeper-batter, whose batting style is often compared with that of the ‘Matara Mauler’ Sanath Jayasuriya, did more in those eight balls than Karunaratne in the entire campaign, and ensured he’ll keep his place in the XI on Sunday.

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Washington Sundar, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Prasidh Krishna, Tilak Varma

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (c), Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, Matheesha Pathirana, Sahan Arachchige, Dushan Hemantha, Kasun Rajitha, Binura Fernando, Dimuth Karunaratne