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Team India displayed a tremendous bowling performance to dismantle Sri Lankan batters in the Asia Cup 2023 final. Right-arm pacer Mohammed Siraj picked up six wickets in his seven-over spell while all-rounder Hardik Pandya dismissed three Sri Lankan batsmen as India restricted the island nation to 50 runs. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma revealed the reason behind not letting Siraj complete 10 overs in the match despite his spectacular form.
Mohammed Siraj registered his best-ever ODI bowling figures on Sunday against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2023 final as he picked up six wickets in seven overs and gave away just 21 runs. Despite Siraj's ability to move the ball a bit more than the other bowlers against Sri Lanka, he was restricted to seven overs by the skipper.
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In a post-match interview, Rohit Sharma revealed that Siraj didn't bowl his full quota of 10 overs due to the trainer's intervention. The Indian skipper said, " He bowled 7 overs in that spell. 7 overs is a lot. I wanted him to bowl but I got a message from our trainer that we need to stop him. He was quite desperate to bowl but that's the nature of any bowler or batter. When they see the opportunity, they want to pounce on it. But that's where my job comes in and I wanted to make sure everything stays calm and don't overexaggerate."
Sharma further added, "That's the call. I remember he was in a similar situation against Sri Lanka in Trivandrum. He had taken 4 wickets and he had bowled some 8-9 overs on the trot, I think."
While lauding Siraj's match-winning performance, Rohit concluded, "I was surprised with the pitch. I can't talk about how they batted and all that. I can only talk about how we bowled. Siraj obviously got the ball to move a bit more than the other guys. We will find different heroes stand up and well all complement him. It was Siraj's day."