5 unnoticed similarities between CSK's IPL 2021 win and Sri Lanka's Asia Cup 2022 triumph

Sri Lanka captured the Asia Cup 2022 championship on Sunday (September 11) with an emphatic win over Pakistan in the final. It was the sixth Asia Cup crown for the Islanders, enabling them to become the second team after India to win the tournament in the T20I format.

Not many fans expected the team to win the mega event this year. India and Pakistan were the hot favorites, but Sri Lanka surprised everyone by finishing the tournament as champions.

At the post-match presentation, Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka said that IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK)'s performance in the IPL 2021 final made the Islanders believe that they could win the Asia Cup 2022 final.

On that note, here's a list of five similarities between CSK's win and Sri Lanka's triumph:

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#1 Both teams won while defending a target in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium

Generally, teams batting second have the upper hand in T20 matches at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, but Sri Lanka and Chennai Super Kings won the final matches of their respective tournaments while defending a target. Sri Lanka had set a 171-run target for Pakistan, whereas CSK had defended a 193-run target against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

As mentioned earlier, Shanaka credited CSK's past performance for his team's success in the Asia Cup final.

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#2 Ended the dominance of a team in blue

Mumbai Indians won the IPL trophy in 2019 and 2020. (Image: Getty)

Mumbai Indians (MI) were the two-time defending champions of the IPL heading into the 2021 season. Similarly, India came into this year's Asia Cup after winning the titles in 2016 and 2018.

Chennai Super Kings ended MI's dominance in IPL in 2021. In the same way, the Lankans brought an end to India's dominance in Asia.

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#3 Winning captain's jersey number

MS Dhoni and the number 7 have become synonymous with each other because of the massive success that the Chennai Super Kings captain has achieved. Not many Indian players have donned that number in international cricket.

There are, however, some foreigners who wear that number on their back. One of them is Dasun Shanaka, the Lankan skipper who won Asia Cup 2022.

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#4 Runner-up team's opener scored 50, No. 3 batter scored golden duck and No. 9 batter touched double digits

Pakistan's number three batter Fakhar Zaman had a forgettable Asia Cup tournament this year. He could have helped his nation become the champions but lost his stumps to Pramod Madushan on the first ball that he faced in the final.

Interestingly, KKR's number three batter in the IPL 2021 final, Nitish Rana, got out for a golden duck as well. He handed a catch to Faf du Plessis off Shardul Thakur's bowling.

Similarly, Pakistan's opener Mohammad Rizwan and KKR's opener Venkatesh Iyer both scored a fifty. They were the top-scorers for their respective teams as well. Number nine batter Haris Rauf scored 13 runs for Pakistan, while Lockie Ferguson scored 18 for KKR at number nine.

KKR were also two-time IPL champions and the third-most successful IPL team when they faced CSK in the final. Pakistan are two-time Asia Cup champions and the third-most successful team in Asia Cup history.

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#5 Both CSK and Sri Lanka failed to impress in the previous seasons

Chennai Super Kings had their worst season in IPL 2020. They became the first team to be eliminated from the tournament after some disappointing performances in the league stage.

Similarly, the Islanders were the first to be eliminated from the previous edition of the Asia Cup, which took place in 2018. They lost their group stage matches against Bangladesh and Afghanistan to crash out early.

Both teams bounced back to win their respective tournaments in the next edition.