Continental crown awaits as India and Sri Lanka clash in the Asia Cup 2023 final

As the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo gears up for a blockbuster final, India will clash with hosts Sri Lanka in the final chapter of the 2023 Asia Cup.

Both the sides have had an incredible run so far and have had their fair shares of perils. India’s path to the finale started off with a washed out game against Pakistan followed by a convincing victory against Nepal that saw them make the cut for the Super Fours.

India then thrashed Pakistan mercilessly in a two-day game after rain played spoilsport on the first, which they followed up with a thrilling win against Sri Lanka to clinch their berth in the final. Despite a defeat against Bangladesh in the final game of the Super Fours, India would be heading to the finals with confidence brimming to the rafters.

Sri Lanka, on the contrary, started their Asia Cup campaign with a thrilling win against Afghanistan followed by a comprehensive victory against Bangladesh to sail into the Super Fours. They pulled off a good win against Bangladesh in the Super Fours followed by a defeat against India despite a roaring display from Dunith Wellalage. However, it was their thrilling victory against Pakistan that got them a berth for the summit clash.

It is going to be an exciting battle between the two continental juggernauts as India hope to put an end to the rut that they have had in the Asia Cup of late with a glorious chapter ahead of their series against Australia, while Sri Lanka will also be eager to finish things on a high.

Venue Watch:

With the surface being the same and with the cracks still to appear exhaustively, the pace and carry on the track will be decent. The team batting first will savour an advantage but as the tournament has progressed, the chasm between the sides batting first and the sides chasing has marginalized itself, thereby assuring that this is going to be another nail-biting contest.

Head to Head:

Matches played: 166

India – 97

Sri Lanka - 57

Match Details:

Match – India vs Sri Lanka

Venue: R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Date: 17th September, 2023

Time: 3:00 PM

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, K L Rahul (wk), Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah.

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