Asia Cup final 2023: Can Rohit-Virat step up with the willow?

Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma (Pic: AFP)

Skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be the cynosure of all eyes when India squares off against defending champions Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final 2023 at the R. Premadasa stadium on Sunday. The duo will be eager to make the most of the summit clash, especially with the high-profile ODI World Cup being just around the corner.

Both Rohit and Virat have achieved personal milestones throughout the Asia Cup. While Rohit completed 10,000 ODI runs, Virat has now over 13,000 runs in one-day internationals. Notably, the duo have not scored big in finals of ODI tournaments like the Asia Cup and Cricket World Cup.

In fact, in five ODI tournament finals, Rohit has scored a mere 101 in five innings at an average of 20.2 and a strike rate of 77. He has not hit a single fifty, with the best score of 48. He has scores of 3 (in 2008 against Sri Lanka), 41 (against Sri Lanka in 2010) and 48 (against Bangladesh in 2018) in the Asia Cup finals. He has again failed to fire in the ICC Champions Trophy finals, scoring nine (against England in 2013) and a duck (against Pakistan in 2017).

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Virat, meanwhile, has a slightly better record in tournament finals, but it does not say a lot. In four ODIs, he has scored 111 runs at an average of 27.80 and a strike rate of 88. His best score is 43. In Asia Cup finals, he has scored 28 (against Sri Lanka in 2010). In the Cricket World Cup final, he has scored 35 (against Sri Lanka in 2011). He played ICC Champions Trophy finals in 2013 and 2017, scoring 43 (against England in 2013) and five (against Pakistan in 2017).

While Rohit has not found consistency, Virat has been unable to convert decent starts into big scores in clinchers.

Sri Lanka showed the potency of their bowling attack in the group stage match of the tournament and Indian batters will have a task up their sleeve. It is no secret that if Rohit and Virat fire on Sunday, it will give a tremendous boost to the team.

Predicted playing XIs

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumraj, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar (cover for injured Axar Patel)

Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (captain), Pathum Nissanaka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Janith Perera, Kusal Mendis (vc), Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Matheesha Pathirana, Kasun Rajitha, Dushan Hemantha, Binura Fernando, Pramod Madushan

(With agency inputs)