Asia Cup 2023: Predicting 3 players who could pick up the most wickets in today’s India vs Sri Lanka final ft. Kuldeep Yadav

It's a final between the 2023 Asia Cup's two best bowling attacks. Out of the 15 top wicket-takers of the tournament so far, eight are either Indian or Sri Lankan.

India have relied on their pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj to pick up wickets in the powerplay. Hardik Pandya usually comes as the first change to break a partnership or build pressure with dot balls. Kuldeep Yadav and Shardul Thakur are middle-overs wicket-takers with Ravindra Jadeja as support.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, function a bit differently and trust their spinners to bowl in every phase of the match for both wickets and controlling the run rate. The pacers, including skipper Dasun Shanaka, bowl short spells according to match-ups.

There's chaos too. India's third spinner Axar Patel is injured and his replacement Washington Sundar hasn't played a lot of late. Shardul Thakur might not play despite picking three wickets against Bangladesh. On the other hand, Sri Lanka's best spinner Maheesh Theekshana is injured and their first-choice pacers aren't available.

Amid all this, it's difficult to predict who'd do well and who won't in such a high-pressure clash. But the following are our predictions of who can be the top three wicket-takers at the R. Premadasa Stadium today:

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#3 Jasprit Bumrah

Bumrah is due a big wicket-taking spell in the Asia Cup. India's premier pacer has played just three matches so far and bowled only 12 overs across two innings (the first one against Pakistan was washed out).

He has looked in stunning touch, getting the ball to move early in the powerplay. And so far, all three of his wickets have come in the powerplay - Sri Lanka's Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka and Pakistan's Imam ul Haq.

If the rain stays away (there's a reserve day available if it doesn't) this match will likely be more competitive than any other so far.

Sri Lanka will depend heavily on their batting lineup to bat deep which will give Bumrah the opportunity to finally bowl in the middle overs and at the death and pick up those extra wickets.

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#2 Dunith Wellalage

For some reason, despite facing Jadeja and Axar day-in-day-out in the nets, India have a problem against left-arm spin. Over the last three years, India are only behind the West Indies and Sri Lanka (among full ICC members) in losing the most wickets against left-arm spin.

Dunith Wellalage used that to his advantage with his variations of angles and pace to pick up a brilliant five-wicket haul (5/40) involving almost every big name in India's batting order. He bowls with a lot of maturity and vigor, putting enough revs behind the ball to make it dip and turn viciously or go straight at pace.

Indian batters' struggles against spin carried forward to the dead rubber against Bangladesh as well. Shakib al Hasan and his two off-spinners ran riot.

With Theekshana injured, Wellalage will likely bowl all the key overs for Sri Lanka. If not a fifer again, he can pick up at least a few wickets today as well.

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#1 Kuldeep Yadav

After a good match's rest, India's top wicket-taker in the Asia Cup (nine in four matches at an average of 11.33) is likely to have another cracking day. The ball is coming out nicely from Kuldeep's hands. The pitch at the R. Premadasa Stadium with a bit of turn and some extra bounce has suited him too.

He picked up four wickets against Sri Lanka the last time. Almost every wicket involved the batter not guessing which way the ball would turn. This was also the case during his five-wicket haul against Pakistan only 24 hours previously. His added pace and improved action have made it possible.

It's difficult to work on these things in such a short span of time, even for a team of Sri Lanka's quality against spin. If the pitch for the final isn't a flat one, Kuldeep will again be among the wickets.