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Sri Lanka batter Charith Asalanka is having quite the Asia Cup 2023 campaign across all fronts. He dismantled Team India's lower-middle order with a fine spell using his part-time off-spin and stepped up with the bat in his team's triumph over Pakistan in a do-or-die encounter.
Asalanka scored a nerveless knock of 49 runs off 47 deliveries under pressure as Sri Lanka secured their first ODI win over Pakistan since 2015. The left-handed batter entered the run chase during a delicate situation and ended up unbeaten in the rain-curtailed encounter at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Asalanka watched as wickets tumbled around him and he even struggled to get the strike at times. But when he did, he made it count and scored six runs off the last two deliveries to send Sri Lanka into their second consecutive Asia Cup final.
He rated the memorable innings as the second-best knock that he has played in his career so far.
The batter said in a post-match interview:
"Kusal and Sadeera played really well, they laid the platform. I planned to finish the game, that's the role in my side. Definitely yes (best ODI knock), I think I can rank this innings second place in my book."
Asalanka mentioned that his role is to finish the game for his side coming in at No. 5, and he has done an excellent job of it across the last couple of years, with his work often going unnoticed at times.
On that note, here are three reasons why Charith Asalanka is the best at his position in ODI cricket.
#1 Excellent numbers in the position and extremely consistent
In modern-day cricket, while a lot has been emphasized about not judging a player by numbers, it is still undeniably an excellent parameter to assess a player's performance over a span of time. Across this front, Asalanka ticks all the boxes, with the statistics being in his favor.
He made his ODI debut against England in 2021, recording a duck while coming in at No. 3. His journey at No. 5 began with the white-ball series against India, which was a landmark for Sri Lanka across several aspects.
He has played 32 innings at the position in the format, scoring 1248 runs at an average of 46.22. Statistically, he is arguably the best batter at No. 5, as he is the only batter in excess of 1,000 runs in the position since 2021.
Sikandar Raza comes second with 955 runs to his name.
#2 Solid player of spin and rotates the strike well
A batter cannot afford to be vulnerable against spin bowling if he wishes to excel in the middle order, in the 50-over format. Asalanka, being a traditional Sri Lankan player, is accustomed to spin bowling, and runs the engine for the team in the middle overs.
An essential part of operating in the middle overs is strike rotation. With the field spread out, it is natural for the boundaries to dry out, but playing out dot balls will only increase the pressure.
Asalanka has the ability to strike the ball into the gaps and run hard, always looking for the opportunity to convert the ones into twos. It goes a long way at the end of the innings, and his career strike rate hovering around the 90-run mark shows the same.
Furthermore, Asalanka always makes it a point to start on a brisk note. He has the knack of finding boundaries early into his innings, putting the pressure on the bowlers and building his innings from there.
#3 Composed under pressure
Even when he was off-strike, or having played out two consecutive dot balls in the 40th over, or bestowed with the task of scoring six runs off the last two deliveries, Asalanka never looked bogged down by pressure.
He had the presence of mind as well as the nerve under pressure to play the most casual shot probably played off the last delivery of an innings, to get the job done.
Even during the tricky run chase against Bangladesh in the opening encounter of the Asia Cup 2023, he was calm under pressure while coming in at 42-3. Asalanka played according to the situation and helped the team chase the score down.
The two knocks, both crucial yet contrasting, prove that Asalanka is the man for any situation. His form is arguably one of the biggest positives that Sri Lanka can relish heading into the Asia Cup final as well as the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Who will win the Asia Cup 2023 final between India and Sri Lanka? Let us know what you think.
