The 2023 Asia Cup was a brilliant tournament as they were top-quality cricket with few matches being held in Lahore and Multan. It was a superb pitch to bat on in Pakistan as there was little assistance to the bowlers.
After the league stage, the Super 4 matches and finals were held in Colombo. The pitches had something for the bowlers, and it was marred by rain. There were some superb bowling efforts that stood out making life tough for the batters.
Here we look at the 3 Best Bowling Spells in the Asia Cup 2023
- Mohammed Siraj – 6 for 21
Mohammed Siraj saved his best for the finals against Sri Lanka played on 17th September. Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and decided to bat first. Siraj came to the party with a superb bowling effort keeping batters guessing. He took the wickets of Pathum Nissanka, Sadeera Samawickrama, Charith Asalanaka, and Dhanajaya de Silva in one over to put the Lankan batters under immense pressure.
Siraj then produced a beauty to dismiss Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka picking his 5th wicket. He made the ball talk getting rid of Kusal Mendis breaking the back of the Lankan team. The pace bowler ended with figures of 6 for 21 in 7 overs. For his brilliant bowling effort, Siraj was named the player of the match. He finished with 10 wickets and ended as 2nd leading wicket-taker.
- Dunith Wellage – 5 for 40
The 20-year left-arm bowler Dunith Wellage was at his prime best during the Super 4 match against India. He came into the attack and got rid of Shubman Gill with a beauty-ending 80-run partnership for an opening wicket.
Wellage showed his worth by dismissing Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma off successive overs to put pressure on Indian batters. He then broke the partnership dismissing KL Rahul and then Hardik Pandya finishing with figures of 5 for 40 in 10 overs.
It was a superb bowling effort by Wellage to pick wickets and stem the flow of runs for the Indian batters to bowl out them for 213. Despite his five-wicket haul, Sri Lanka lost the match by 41 runs.
- Kuldeep Yadav – 5 for 25
The left-arm chinamen bowler Kuldeep Yadav proved too much in their first Super 4 match against arch-rivals Pakistan. It was a remarkable bowling spell as he picked the wicket of Fakhar Zaman in his first over.
He kept picking wickets at regular intervals and did not allow the Pakistan batters to score runs freely. Kuldeep then took the scalps of Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shahbad Khan, and Faheem Ashraf to end the match. The left-arm chinamen ended with 5 for 25 in 8 overs skittling Pakistan out for 128.
Kuldeep then showed his class with 4 wickets in the next match against Sri Lanka. He dismissed Sadeera Samawickrama, and Charith Asalanaka during his first spell before getting wickets of Rajitha and Pathirana to help Team India win by 41 runs.
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