India vs Sri Lanka Asia Cup 2023 Final Match: Stats Preview of Players' Records and Approaching Milestones

The defending champions, Sri Lanka (SL), will defend their Asia Cup title against the seven-time champions India (IND) in the grand finale of Asia Cup 2023 on September 17 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Both teams will meet in the finals for the eighth time in the tournament, with India winning four and Sri Lanka winning three. This contest is expected to be a high-octane clash, with both teams aiming for yet another title win.

Sri Lanka will be coming into the contest on the back of a nervy win over Pakistan in their virtual semi-final. In the modern era of cricket, where 400 runs is a doable total for many, Sri Lanka have managed to win four out of five games without even scoring 300. They initially lost most of their main bowlers to injury, but their bowlers who were trusted have performed in different situations; they have taken a total of 47 wickets in five games, ten wickets in the first four matches and seven wickets against Pakistan in the rain-curtailed game which was reduced to 42 overs. 

Young sensations Dunith Wellalage and Matheesha Pathirana are among the wickets for Sri Lanka with ten and 11, respectively, while Maheesh Theekshana has picked eight wickets. In the batting department, each and every batter has stepped up on different occasions; Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama have accounted for 253 and 215 runs at an average of 50.60 and 43, while Charith Asalanka the hero of the last game has accounted for 179 runs at an impressive average of 59.67. 

Sri Lanka will miss the services of Maheesh Theekshana, who has been ruled out due to injury. Shanaka & Co. will look to continue their winning run so as to defend their title.

Also check: Asia Cup 2023, IND vs SL Live Match Updates, Final

India, on the other hand, will be coming into the contest on the back of clinical performances with both bat and ball. Though they lost the previous game against Bangladesh by a close margin of six runs, they still look favourites to dent Sri Lanka from defending their title. India rested their senior players in the last game so as to manage the workload ahead of the ODI World Cup next month. In the games against Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the bowlers dominated the game by picking all the 30 wickets and bowling out each team below the 230 run mark. 

Kuldeep Yadav has been in sublime form as he picked a five-fer against Pakistan and a four-fer against Sri Lanka, while Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur have accounted for six and five wickets, respectively. In the batting department, Shubman Gill has topped the chart with 275 runs from five games, including a century against Bangladesh and two fifties against Nepal and Pakistan, while Rohit Sharma has led from the front with three fifties, scoring an overall 194 runs in five games at an average of 48.50. 

Virat Kohli and KL Rahul played a pivotal partnership of 233 against Pakistan, both registering their respective centuries. India will look to continue their dominance so as to deny Sri Lanka from defending their title.

Check: Most Runs in Asia Cup 2023

Meanwhile, let us look at the stats and approaching milestones ahead of the finals between India and Sri Lanka:

Head-to-Head: In an overall 166 games played between the two teams, India have dominated the contest with 97 wins while Sri Lanka has won 57 games, one game ending in a tie, and 11 games did not yield results.

In Asia Cup ODI, both have met 20 times, and the record is even-steven, with both winning ten and losing ten games.

2 - KL Rahul (48) needs two sixes to complete 50 sixes in ODIs.

3 -Mohammed Siraj (47) needs three wickets to reach the milestone of 50 wickets in ODIs.

5 - Rohit Sharma (545) requires five sixes to reach 550 maximums in international cricket.

3 - Kusal Mendis (147) needs three sixes to complete 150 sixes in International Cricket.

4 - Kusal Mendis (47) needs three sixes to complete 50 sixes in ODI.

3 – Dasun Shanaka (97) requires three fours to complete 100 fours in ODIs.

3 – Kasun Rajitha (97) requires three wickets to get to 100 wickets across formats.

93 - Kusal Mendis (253) needs 93 runs to become the leading run-scorer by a wicketkeeper in a single Asia Cup tournament in ODI.

61 - Rohit Sharma (939) needs 61 runs to complete the milestone of 1000 runs in the Asia Cup ODI.

4 - Hardik Pandya (296) is four fours away from reaching the milestone of 300 international fours.