/sky247-english/media/agency_attachments/u8Dd4hyaH0mQGXmyg0Eo.png)
/sky247-english/media/media_files/oXHoxgPA7CrylmMTcwp1.jpg)
Follow Us/sky247-english/media/post_banners/5rjZo6sBd1dZ4yxFSwo7.jpg)
The Sri Lankan team stunned everyone with a historic title win in the Asia Cup 2022 after winning the final against Pakistan. Both teams locked the horns in the title clash of the tournament on the 11th of September at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Notably, it was the sixth time when Lankan tigers ended up as the champions in the tournament.
/sky247-english/media/media_files/L36rCpmHRJkAgRgNCcLd.jpg)
Although, it was completely out of the expectations of the fans as they were assuming the final between the two arch-nemesis arch-rivals India and Pakistan. But Dasun Shanak & co came out of the syllabus both for the participating teams and the cricket fans as well.
The winning captain Dasun Shanaka happened to say in the post-match presentation in that Chennai’s win in the final of the Indian T20 League in 2021 made his team believe that they could clinch the title in the Asia Cup 2022.
So, keeping Shanaka’s statement in the back of my mind, here we’ll have a look at five similarities that anyone could have barely noticed between CSK’s win and Sri Lanka’s crowning in the Asia Cup 2022.
1: Both teams won after batting first at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium
"We are confident that won the match after losing the toss and batting first because we saw CSK won the IPL trophy by batting first in Dubai." - Dasun Shanaka
— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) September 11, 2022
“We are confident that won the match after losing the toss and batting first because we saw CSK win the IPL trophy by batting first in Dubai.” - said Dasun Shanaka in the post-match presentation.
Considering the behavior of the turf at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, it is very often that the teams who decide to bat first here have won the toss. But things went rare on both occasions in the finals of the Indian T20 League 2021 and Asia Cup 2022. Chennai and Lankan teams won the title clashes of marquee tournaments after batting first.
Sri Lankan skipper went on to credit Chennai’s past performance for the success of his team in the finals of the Asia Cup 2022.
2: Both teams ended the dominance of the men in blue in the tournaments
/ "publive-image")
Earlier before the 2021 edition of the Indian T20 League, Mumbai Indians had won the previous two editions of 2019 and 2020. Similarly, the Indian team came into the Asia Cup 2022 after winning the tournament last time in the year 2018.
So, both Chennai and Sri Lanka eventually happened to end the dominance of the men in blue in their respective tournaments.
3: The same number on the jersey of the winning captains
A certain captain donning a blue jersey No. 7 leading a young bunch of exciting players to a title win after beating Pakistan in the final. Yep, M̶S̶ D̶h̶o̶n̶i̶ Dasun Shanaka. #SLvPAK #AsiaCup2022 #AsiaCupFinal2022
— S. Sudarshanan (@Sudarshanan7) September 11, 2022
Speaking of an interesting fact, then the jersey number of the captains who were leading their respective sides. Chennai’s legendary skipper MS Dhoni and Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka had a similar jersey number 7.
Former Indian skipper and Chennai’s leader MS Dhoni has a very romanticizing history with the number. Whereas on the other hand, Sri Lankan was also wearing the same number on his back while leading the Sri Lankan team in the 15th edition of the continental tournament.
4: Losing team’s opener scored half-century along with golden duck of number-3 and number nine batters scored runs in a double-digit.
Fakhar Zaman last 10 T20I innings:
— Zaib Ullah Khan (@ZaybUllah) September 11, 2022
0
13
5
15
53
10
0
12
10
10#AsiaCup2022Final #PAKvsSri #PAKvsSL pic.twitter.com/daJtZPSicy
Senior Pakistani batter Fakhar Zaman who used to come at number three for the men in green couldn’t impress with his performance in the recently-concluded Asia Cup. He could have finished the line for his team to lift the Asia Cup title for the third time. But unfortunately, he fell prey to the Sri Lankan bowler Pramod Madushan on the first ball he played in a very crucial match for Pakistan.
Similarly, in the final of the Indian T20 League of 2021, Kolkata’s number three batter Nitish Rana was dismissed on the first ball he faced against Chennai. He fell prey to Shardul Thakur.
Pakistan's number three batter Fakhar Zaman had a forgettable Asia Cup tournament this year. He could have helped his nation become the champions but lost his stumps to Pramod Madushan on the first ball that he faced in the final.
Apart from this Pakistani opener Mohammad Rizwan in Asia Cup 2022 final and Kolkata’s Venkatesh Iyer went on to score half-centuries for their teams in the finals of Asia Cup 2022 and Indian T20 League 2021 respectively.
Number nine batter for Pakistan, Haris Rauf played a small knock of 13 runs, and earlier Kolkata’s Lockie Ferguson also ended up scoring 18 for his team. They both scored in double digits.
Both losing teams in the form of Kolkata and Pakistan in these respective tournaments were two-time champions in the tournaments. It is because Pakistan had won two titles in Asia Cup and Kolkata was also the two-time champions.
5: Both teams to deliver their best in the previous edition of the respective tournaments
The first team to get eliminated from IPL 2020 : CSK
— ` (@FourOverthrows) October 10, 2021
The first team to reach the finals in IPL 2021 : CSK
The greatest team ever. pic.twitter.com/aeQOxiZIB2
Dhoni-led Chennai had the worst outing in the 2020 edition of the Indian T20 League. They were the first team to get knocked out of the tournament after the poor outings in the group stage of the Indian T20 League.
Something similar to this happened to the Islanders when they lost consecutive matches against Bangladesh and then Afghanistan in the group stage of the Asia Cup 2018.