Pakistan and Sri Lanka will clash in the final of the Asia Cup 2022 on Sunday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai. Defending champions India failed to make it to the final from the Super 4 round.
Sri Lanka are 5-time Asia Cup champions – behind only India (7 times) – and last won it in 2014; whereas Pakistan have, surprisingly, won the Asia Cup only twice – in 2000 and 2012. So history is in beckoning on Sunday.
Ahead of the all-important finale, here we have a look at how much the prize money is for the champions and the runner-up of Asia Cup 2022:
The winning team of Asia Cup 2022 will receive a bumper sum of $20,000 (INR 15,93,121 approx) while the team finishing second in the tournament – losing the final – will take home a cheque of $10,000 (INR 7,96,560 approx).
Babar Azam wins the toss and elected to bowl first in the final
Meanwhile, toss has happened in Dubai. Pakistan captain Babar Azam has won the toss and, expectedly, elected to bowl first. This is a big plus for Pakistan already as not only the Dubai pitch and conditions heavily favour the chasing team, but their opponents tonight in the final, Sri Lanka, have a much better recent record while chasing instead of batting first.
Sri Lanka will now have to put an above-par score to give any sort of concern to Pakistan. And even Sri Lanka had defeated Pakistan in the Super 4 match two days ago, defending in the final is another thing; in that game couple of nights ago, Pakistan had rested Shadab Khan and Naseem Shah, both of whom now come back in the line-up replacing Usman Qadir and Hasan Ali. Sri Lanka have gone with the same side that thrashed the Men In Green on Friday.
Teams:
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis(w), Danushka Gunathilaka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka(c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Pramod Madushan, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka
Pakistan (Playing XI): Mohammad Rizwan(w), Babar Azam(c), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain
