Mohammed Siraj gave India the perfect start in the Asia Cup final, taking five wickets in 16 balls and bringing up several notable feats in the process.

Jasprit Bumrah nicked off Kusal Perera with the third ball of the game, but after that it was all about Siraj. His first over was a maiden, but despite not containing a wicket, there were hints of the threat to come, Siraj beating Kusal Mendis four times as the Sri Lanka No.3 failed to get bat to ball even once.

With plenty of new-ball movement on offer, the dam broke in Siraj’s next over, which contained four wickets. First to go was Pathum Nissanka, who sliced a drive to point where Ravindra Jadeja took a smart low catch. Two balls later, Siraj struck again, pinning Sadeera Samarawickrama lbw, with a review not saving the Sri Lanka batter. Charith Asalanka chipped to cover next ball to put Siraj on a hat-trick, and though the hat-trick ball was pushed down the ground for four – Siraj chasing the ball all the way to the boundary, much to the amusement of Virat Kohli at slip – Dhananjaya nicked the final delivery of the over behind to continue Sri Lanka’s horror start.

Bumrah backed up Siraj with a maiden to Mendis – the second he had played out in the game – and then Siraj was back at it. He beat Dasun Shanaka four times in four balls, the last of which uprooted off-stump. At this point, his figures read 5-4 in 16 balls, and Sri Lanka were 12-6.

Cricket’s statisticians quickly set to work to figure out where Siraj’s effort ranked among various all-time lists. It transpired his was the joint quickest five-for in ODIs, from the start of the spell to the fall of the fifth wicket, where such data is available. He equalled Chaminda Vaas’ 16-ball five-for against Bangladesh in the 2003 World Cup.

Four wickets in an over is not quite as rare a feat, with four bowlers achieving it in ODIs in the last 20 years. The others to do so are Vaas, in that five-for against Bangladesh, Mohammad Sami against New Zealand in 2003, and Adil Rashid against West Indies in 2019.

Siraj finished with figures of 6-21, the second six-for in the Asia Cup. The other six-for, strangely, also came in an India v Sri Lanka final, with Ajantha Mendis taking 6-13 in the 2008 showpiece clash. Siraj’s are the fourth-best ODI figures for India, behind Burmah’s 6-19 against England last year, Anil Kumble’s 6-12 against West Indies in 1993, and Stuart Binny’s 6-4 against Bangladesh in 2014.

Sri Lanka folded for 50 all out, the lowest ODI total by any side against India.