India captain Rohit Sharma lauded his fast-bowlers for setting up the side’s eighth Asia Cup title with a 10-wicket drubbing of Sri Lanka, saying a performance like the one seen in Sunday’s title clash will be cherished for a very long time.
Mohammed Siraj blew away the Sri Lankan batters with a career-best spell of 6-21, while Hardik Pandya took three wickets. Jasprit Bumrah had a scalp to his name as the Indian fast-bowlers took all 10 wickets in bowling out Sri Lanka for just 50, their second-lowest ODI total and the least they have scored in the format against India, as well as in the Asia Cup, which India chased in 6.1 overs.
"It was a great performance, especially to come and play like that in a final. Shows the mentality of the team. Our seamers are actually working really hard for many years, so it's pleasing for the side to see them rewarded like that. Very clinical. A performance like that will be cherished for a very long time," Rohit said after the match.
"I never thought the ball was going to be doing that much, again it comes back to the skillset of the individuals. That's very rare (from Siraj), you don't see many guys who can move it in the air and off the pitch. And the other guys also who took part at various stages, they all played their part," he further added.
Took All We Could From This Series: Rohit Sharma
Rohit also agreed with India ticking a lot of the boxes in their Asia Cup triumph. "We took all we could from this series, it is quite pleasing to move in this direction with this kind of confidence. The first game against Pakistan under pressure 4 down, how Hardik and Kishan batted in that pressure got us to that total."
"And then KL and Virat getting that hundred was brilliant to see. Also Gill, he's in terrific form, he's a batting freak. He likes to keep batting and it's something that works for our team. A lot of the guys at various stages bailed the team out in pressure situations."
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