Gautam Gambhir was seen clicking photos holding the Sri Lankan national flag at the Dubai International stadium.
Sri Lanka are the new Asian Champions. They crushed Pakistan in the final and won the game by 23 runs. They were put in to bat first by Babar and struggled in the early overs. Naseem Shah cleaned up Kusal Mendis in the third delivery of the innings. They lost half their side in under 60 runs. Bhanuka Rajapaksa entered the field in the 6th over. He built up a partnership with Hasaranga when the team was reeling under successive falling wickets. He scored 71 off 45 balls with a strike rate of 157. Sri Lanka went from 58-5 to 170-6 after Rajapaksa’s blistering knock.
While chasing, Sri Lanka stumbled initially as Madushanka gave away 9 runs in extras in the very first over. Babar Azam, the Pakistani skipper, was dismissed for just five runs, continuing his poor form. Mohammad Rizwan anchored the innings and scored another half-century for the team. But it wasn’t just enough. The rest of the squad crumbled under pressure. Pramod Madushan and Wanindu Hasaranga clinched 4 wickets and 3 wickets respectively.
Sri Lanka started as the least favorite team for the tournament. They lost to Afghanistan in the opening match of the tournament. Nobody expected them to even qualify for the Super Four group stage. They stood on the podium as champions, proving everyone wrong.
Gambhir poses with the Sri Lankan flag
Gautam Gambhir, a former Indian cricketer, shared a video on Twitter. In the video, he is holding the Sri Lankan national flag. He posted a video in which he posed for the camera holding Sri Lanka’s national flag in hand. The Lankan supporters in the stands erupted in joy at Gambhir’s gesture. He captioned the tweet,
“Superstar team…Truly deserving!! #CongratsSriLanka.”
Gautam Gambhir was part of the commentary panel for the Asia Cup, 2022.
The resurgence of Sri Lanka
Dasun Shanka’s boys came to Dubai with the sole aim of giving their countrymen back home a reason to celebrate. Sri Lanka as a nation is reeling under a serious crisis. Sri Lanka was the initial host of the tournament. Owing to the political crisis in the state, the venue was later shifted to the UAE at the last moment
Bangladesh challenged Sri Lanka after the latter lost their opening game against Afghanistan. “The War of Words” broke into open platforms from both sides. From that day, the Lankans went on to defeat Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan successively. Sports unite people This win holds much value for the team, considering the situation back home.
Interestingly, the now six-time Asian Champions are yet to qualify for the upcoming T20 World Cup. They have to get through the qualifiers to feature in the World Cup in October. The odds and confidence are right for them, and they will hopefully qualify for the big tournament.
