Sri Lanka earned their sixth Asia Cup title after defeating Pakistan by 23 runs in the tournament's grand finals at the Dubai International Stadium.
Pakistan won the toss and captain Babar Azam put Sri Lanka to bat first. Pakistan's strategy was successful, as they got Sri Lanka to 58-5 in 9 overs. But later, Bhanuka Rajapaksa's (71* off 45) and Wanindu Hasaranga's (36 off 21) counter-attacking batting performance, raised Sri Lanka from 58/5. Sri Lanka set a target of 171, which proved to be too much for Babar Azam and company as they got bowled out for 147 in 20 overs . For the first time since April 2014, Sri Lanka won five straight T20Is.
Once again getting off to a terrible start, Pakistan's captain Babar Azam was taken down by Pramod Madushan as they attempted to chase down the score. After being dismissed for a golden duck, Fakhar Zaman's campaign took a turn for the worse. Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed were left to lead the run chase. The pair did made their presence known for a while, but they soon got out while attempting to speed up the run rate.
The other batsmen had little choice but to slog, which quickly resulted in their wicket. Wanindu Hasaranga's 17th over turned the game around. After 20 overs, Pakistan was eventually dismissed for 147 runs, with Madushan taking four wickets.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 170/6 in 20 overs (Rajapaksa 71*, Hasaranga 36; Rauf 3-29) beat Pakistan 147 in 20 overs (Rizwan 55; Madushan 4-34, Hasaranga 3-27) by 23 runs