Asia Cup 2022 | Sri Lanka beat India by six wickets

Defending champions India’s campaign in Asia Cup 2022 is all but over. They went down to Sri Lanka by six wickets in the last over of the match, suffering their second successive defeat in Super Four stage on Tuesday.

India have a tough chance of making it to Sunday’s final. With only one match left for India in Super Four, for them to reach the final, they have to win against Afghanistan on Thursday and hope that Pakistan lose to Afghanistan in Sharjah on Wednesday and also to Sri Lanka in Dubai on Friday. Also, India must have a better Net Run Rate to see them through. A simple win for Pakistan against Afghanistan on Wednesday will mean curtains for India.

The Indian bowlers failed to defend a total of 173 against the tournament hosts Sri Lanka. They bowled too many loose deliveries and struggled to separate the Lankan openers Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka until they put on 97 in 11 overs.

Having successfully chased in their previous two matches to win off the last over against Bangladesh to first qualify for Super Four and then Afghanistan, the momentum was with the Lankans with in-form Mendis scoring his second fifty in three innings.

Mendis frequently went on his knee and smashed spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin for sixes. The experienced Ashwin was included in the 11 at the expense of young leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who was India’s best bowler in the previous game.

Nissanka and Mendis used the crease well to negate the movement of the medium-pacers and also the turn of the spinners to pick boundaries at will. Having reached 97 without loss in 11 overs, at which point Lanka needed 77 off 54 balls, India suddenly were back in the game, courtesy Chahal’s three-wicket burst and Ashwin’s one.

The two spinners dismissed both Nissanka (52) and Mendis (57) while also accounting for their Nos. 3 and 4 as Lanka lost four wickets for 13 runs in 3.1 overs. Chahal accounted for Nissanka, who played his first reverse sweep, and was caught at backward point, Mendis was trapped leg before and Charith Asalanka caught at long-leg. Ashwin removed left-handed Danushka Gunathilaka to a catch in the deep.

However, the presence of Bhanuka Rajapaksa (25 not out, 17 balls, 2x6) and skipper Dasun Shanaka (33 not out, 18b, 4x4, 1x6) kept the Lankans in the game as the asking rate was well within their reach. Had India taken a wicket or two more, they may have had a chance of winning.

The left-handed Rajapaksa, known to clearing the boundary with ease, repeatedly stepped out to Chahal and Ashwin to deposit the ball into the crowd repeatedly. It was left again for young Arshdeep Singh to defend as Lanka needed seven off the final over. Shanaka and Rajapaksa indulged in singles and twos with an overthrow off the fifth ball, handing Lanka a morale-boosting win, especially for the start that they had in the tournament opener when they lost to Afghanistan badly.

Run-making was not as easy as it was on the same pitch two days earlier at the Dubai International Stadium. On the back of their captain Rohit Sharma’s brilliant 72 off only 41 balls with five fours and four sixes, India posted a challenging 173 for eight after being sent in to bat. Sharma’s 97-run partnership in 58 balls for the third wicket with Suryakumar Yadav (34, 29b, 1x4, 1x6) was very crucial in the Indian scheme of things.

It was not an auspicious start for India with No. 1 KL Rahul and No. 3 Virat Kohli falling cheaply. Rahul, who has struggled in the first two matches and batted freely in the last match against Pakistan two evenings earlier, was trapped leg before by off-spinner Maheesh Theekshana in the second over of the Indian innings, getting it on his toe on the full. Only the previous delivery, he lofted the slow bowler over cover for a one-bounce four.

Kohli, who scored a chanceless half-century on Sunday, went for an expansive shot and was bowled by left-arm medium-pacer Dilshan Madhushanka, who brought the ball in. It was Kohli’s fourth zero in 95 T20I innings and 103 matches.

Rohit was joined by Yadav at 13 for two in the third over and the two were cautious initially but did not take time to accelerate. Rohit did not need a second invitation to dismiss anything that was bowled short to the fence while also using his feet to leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga for maximum runs. Though dropped on 40 by his opposite number Dasun Shanaka, he had no choice but to go after the bowling and look for quick runs.

In doing so, he used the horizontal shot to right-arm medium-pacer Chamika Karunaratne straight to deep cover on the side that had the longer boundary.

Yadav too fell soon after, his scoop not clearing the in-field and was caught at short third man. While India’s strength was that they can bat deep, the lower middle-order and lower-order did not go big, what with Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant and Deepak Hooda unable to find the big sixes that were the need of the hour. Though Pant played a couple of delightful shots for fours through the gaps, he and the others fell while going for big hits.