India Routs Sri Lanka As Cricket’s Asia Cup Fittingly Ends With A Whimper

A tournament often mocked as being an excuse to play the lucrative India and Pakistan blockbuster on a loop somehow never ends with its dream final.

In 16 editions since 1984, astonishingly, there has not been an India-Pakistan final at the Asia Cup. That seems implausible, especially considering tournament organizers concoct ways to basically ensure the teams play one another.

But Sri Lanka – a smaller Full Member nation long punching above its weight in white ball cricket – have often spoiled the party. They did so again to reach the final for the 13th time and play India in a match-up of the two most successful teams in the competition.

There would be no Pakistan-India marquee contest in a blow for tournament officials and broadcasters, but Sri Lanka were considered a decent alternative.

Not only did they sport a great record at the event, with six titles, Sri Lanka were playing at home in front of a packed stadium in Colombo after they co-hosted the tournament – supposed to be played solely in Pakistan before the usual squabbling ensued between its arch-rival India.

But the final was a rout with Sri Lanka blown away by a devastating spell from speedster Mohammed Siraj, whose outrageous seam bowling accounted for some rather toothless top-order batting.

The broadcast’s cameras kept panning to ashen-faced Sri Lankan fans in the terraces, who arrived at the ground anxious over whether play would be interrupted by inclement conditions that had marred the tournament. More specifically, the India-Pakistan group game in Kandy was washed out in a major anti-climax.

Rain did delay the start by 40 minutes, but it didn’t matter with the clash finishing just over two hours later – and that’s inclusive of a ludicrous half an hour break between innings that made no sense.

Needing a breather from the long faces of the locals, the cameras continually focused on some of cricket’s most influential figures casting a gaze from above. Jay Shah, the Indian cricket boss doubling as the Asian Cricket Council leader, was surrounded by heavy hitters who many cricket fans would be oblivious to.

Thus it was up to the broadcast’s obtuse commentators to constantly make a point in highlighting these important men in suits amid undoubted politicking ahead of the ICC’s next board meeting next month.

Shah would have had mixed feelings with India’s record 10-wicket thrashing – an ominous warning ahead of the upcoming World Cup in India. He would have been stirred by watching the indefatigable Siraj, who finished with six wickets as Sri Lanka were dismissed for a laughable 50 all out.

India needed just 6.1 overs to claim the title and their biggest ever ODI victory in a flop of a decider that was a fitting end to a rather shambolic tournament.

As the boss of the ACC, who want its flagship Asia Cup to become a marquee event in the cricket calendar, Shah must have been thinking where this tournament went so awry.

It probably started with the warring over whether Pakistan should host solely and never really recovered, with the nadir being a reserve day being shoehorned into the Pakistan-India Super Four fixture as tournament organizers scrambled to ensure a second wash out didn’t ensue.

The tournament undoubtedly lost credibility, a shame for a revamped ACC with big aspirations to strengthen a region that has become the lifeblood of the sport.

A lame final – absurdly shorter than a T20 match – capped an Asia Cup that led some to ponder what was even the point of it all. Perhaps this was karma from the cricket gods, with just one completed Pakistan-India match possible and that too was a non-contest.

The Asia Cup (men’s) won’t be played until 2025, likely in either India and/or Bangladesh according to sources, and that should provide welcome contemplation.

This should be an engrossing tournament, something far more tangible than just the dollar signs surrounding India-Pakistan, but instead feels rather hollow and entirely forgettable.

As rain cascaded onto the ground, shortly after Shah had presented his team with the trophy, the symbolism for this bleak tournament was apt.