Asia Cup 2022 | Sri Lankans have given nice tight slap to everyone who couldn’t look beyond India-Pakistan final, proclaims Sunil Gavaskar

Ever since the schedule of the Asia Cup 2022 was out many expected the India-Pakistan clash to happen in the final and they are going to see the traditional rivals face off each other thrice in the tournament. However, India and Pakistan have never locked horns against each other in the final of the Asia Cup since the first edition in 1984. The trend continued in this edition as well as India were knocked out of the tournament in the super four stages. 

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, scripted a title run to everyone’s surprise. They suffered a defeat against Afghanistan in the first match and no one gave them a chance to even qualify for the final. However, the team clinched the trophy for the sixth time winning five matches on a trot. Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar believes that Sri Lanka have given a nice tight slap to all those who were expecting the India-Pakistan final. 

"They were under the radar, weren’t they? (Sri Lanka). Because everything in the Asia Cup was about India and Pakistan,” Gavaskar said to India Today.

"Everyone was talking about India-Pakistan, India-Pakistan and India-Pakistan as if these were the only two teams. And when you look at the fact that Sri Lanka has won this (Asia Cup) for the 6th time, that is second only to India, it does tell you that when you talk about prospects, you must not ignore Sri Lanka. And that’s a nice tight slap that Sri Lankans have given to all those who were trying to say it’s going to be an India vs Pakistan final.”