"It was just like a selection or practice match" - S Sreesanth on India's incredible win over Sri Lanka in Asia Cup 2023 final
Former Indian pacer S Sreesanth hailed the Men in Blue for absolutely blowing Sri Lanka away in the final of the Asia Cup 2023 in Colombo on Sunday, September 17. India bowled Sri Lanka out for just 50 runs, with Mohammed Siraj pulling off an incredible spell of 6/21, including four wickets in an over.
The hosts just couldn't recover from the blow as the opposition openers Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill coasted to the target in 6.1 overs. This gave the Men in Blue their biggest win in ODI history in terms of balls to spare (263).
Speaking to Sportskeeda after India's win in the Asia Cup, here's what Sreesanth had to say about the performance of Rohit Sharma and Co.:
"I couldn’t believe it. It was just like a selection or practice match. You get to see such games at U3, U14, U16 levels. No Indian player or fan or anyone who was watching the Asia Cup could have predicted that something like this was going to happen. It was a complete clinical performance from the Indian team."
Sreesanth hailed Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah for the way they bowled in partnerships. He added:
"I think he (Siraj) picked his five wickets in 16 balls. No runs for three wickets! Thse things don’t happen even in Test matches. Hats off to him from nowhere to somewhere to everywhere. He didn’t do anything extraordinary. The team’s morale goes really high when you pick wickets in the initial overs and that’s exactly what Siraj and Bumrah did and that’s what is expected of them too by coach and captain."
Sreesanth on Mohammed Siraj's fielding effort
Sreesanth was delighted to see the effort that Siraj put in off his own bowling to try and stop the boundary on his hattrick delivery to Dhananjaya de Silva. On this, he stated:
"Siraj made the match look like a highlights package. The one thing that I found great was the way he chased the ball to the boundary when he himself was on a hattrick. The level of commitment that he showed is something both youngsters and legends of the game should take note of."
With the World Cup in mind, India might be keen to rotate Bumrah and Siraj in the ODI series against Australia beginning on September 22.