Sri Lanka waited until the fireworks went off in the sky, and until golden confetti shone in their hair. On the second ball of the last over, practically even before Mohammad Rizwan fell, victory was ensured, but he waited until the last ball was bowled, which dampened his enthusiasm and joy.
Just as Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 23 runs to win their sixth Asia Cup, half a dozen players climbed into the stands to collect flags from the crowd, and ran around the stadium, waving them happily. Upstairs, the coaching staff was cutting loose – leaping to their feet, punching in the air.
Players released all their emotions, came out running in the waves and danced and ran in circles pulsing with adrenaline. They ran like children – arms outstretched, faces lit up with joy – running nowhere in mind.
There was a spectacular catastrophe, a feeling that it was all just a dream and not a piece of reality.
They had landed here as outsiders only a fortnight ago. After the first match, a shocking defeat at the hands of Afghanistan, he was written off. He knocked out previous opponents and secretly asked to remain in contention with the intensity of a team that knew this opportunity would not come again.
His path has been so difficult. But he gained an unstoppable momentum towards the backend. They were asked to pass before passing every test, handing Pakistan constant beatings.
Compared to the nervous finish they had to stick to, the final was a stroll. When Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed retaliated, there were moments of panic, like a shoddy start, a middle-order collapse, and confusion, but they looked so bad they didn’t notice anything. Not at all when Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan together scored 22 runs chasing 171.
But disaster struck in the fourth over, when Pramod Madusan dismissed Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman in successive deliveries in his second T20 game. Babar, who was facing a tough tournament, directed the leg-side ball to the fine leg fielder to hug the inner circle. A low-wrist batsman would have thrown it over midwicket, but Babar looked to slide it. Not a single wicket came off the next ball. But the length in the middle confused Zaman and his late decision to push the ball saw him pull the ball over the stumps.
Sri Lanka was emitting a grim band of energy, attacking the wholes, ramping up the intensity on the field, throwing their bodies on the lawn. The crowd, standing by, accompanied by cans and hisses, took Dubai in a mini Colombo.
But had Pakistan not surrendered yet, they infrequently turned without a fight. At least when Mohammad Rizwan is around. He fought a lone battle, soaking up pressure and aggression, counteroffensive, and raising expedients of a comeback. The return of the epic, not the Pakistani proposition, sounded to have stuck in typical Pakistani fashion.
Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, and Mohammad Rizwan lost four lattices in 19 balls. This time, still, there was no room for a return to the grand scale.
The main sore, once again, was Wanindu Hasaranga. He threw out Rizwan, the biggest and only hope. After heaping on the pressure, he lured him indiscriminately with a bowled ball. Rizwan saw an opportunity – Pakistan needed a run rate of around 11 runs per over to win the game – and opted for the slog-sweep. Few batsmen manage to sweep him slog as he is adept at converting pace and length. It was quicker and a bit fuller than Rizwan, apart from that he had to pull the ball outside the off-stump. Forever, he ended up biting the ball in the air. The next ball was pure magic, as his astonishingly wrongful bounce came through a huge slog sweep from Asif Ali. In one stroke, he fell to 111/6 and then to 125/9.
But the difference was not only about Hasaranga. There were many in this tournament – from the wonderful skipper Dasun Shanaka and freshman Pramod Madushan to Kusal Mendis to left-arm seamers and Dilshan Madhushanka. Or the reliable Pathum Nisanka. It was a triumph of the qualities that make up this team. Sri Lanka just had more drive and energy. They did not mind losing the toss and were asked to bat, even though they have won all four of their games in the series on a ground where eighteen of the last 21 matches were won by the teams batting first. They were better fielders, leaping over catches, and leaving boundaries with the Tigers flourishing.
Pakistan, on the other hand, dropped catches, allowed boundaries to slip, and collided with teammates. He endured the top-order and the middle-order collapse, but he did not budge. As has been the recreating theme, an idol will come out of nowhere. It was Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s turn to come to an idol this time by scoring an unbeaten 71.
Chamika Karunaratne revealed so importantly. “ A time and a half years ago, we were nowhere. Now we’re a different platoon with the youth. I feel great. We promised to fight and show ourselves. It was a lot of hard work. Players crossed their limits. He pushed himself every time, ” he said after the game. Sculpted on the beach of Dubai is the story of their sweat and gashes of joy.
