Defending champions India are out of contention for a berth in the Asia Cup final. They were handed the knock-out blow by arch-rivals Pakistan, who pulled off a sensational one-wicket win off the final over against Afghanistan in Sharjah on Wednesday.
After winning two Group A matches of the Asia Cup 2022, India lost two Super Four matches to former champions Pakistan and Sri Lanka to face elimination from the tournament.
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Sitting dismally at third position in the points table behind Sri Lanka and Pakistan, India needed too many things to go in their favour if they were to enter the final on Sunday. Pakistan had to lose to Afghanistan in Sharjah on Wednesday, India had to win big against Afghanistan in Dubai on Thursday and also hope that Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by a big margin in Dubai on Friday in such a way that the Net Run Rate of Pakistan and Afghanistan were less than India’s.
To expect Pakistan to lose two matches, considering their bowling attack and the presence of world No. 1 batsmen Mohd. Rizwan and No. 2 Babar Azam at the top of their line-up, was asking for too much. But anything is possible in a game of T20.
As it happened, Pakistan scraped through with an exciting one-wicket win. Pakistan No. 10 Naseem Shah hit two sixes off successive full tosses in the last over sent down by left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi when they needed 11 runs.
With their second Super Four win, Pakistan earned the right to meet Sri Lanka in the final on Sunday. Thus, India and Afghanistan are out of the competition.
After a blazing start by openers Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Afghanistan lost their way in the middle overs and managed only 129 for six after some fiery bowling by Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf. Following the early dismissals of Babar Azam for a first-ball duck and Fakhar Zaman for 5, Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals before eventually winning in yet another last-over thriller in this tournament.
Thus, India’s match against the never-say-die Afghanistan on Thursday will be of a mere academic interest that will be played to avoid the embarrassment of finishing last in the table. And, Friday’s last Super Four match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be a dress rehearsal for the title clash.
When you analyse what went wrong with the Indian team, there are many areas that need to be looked into. The Indian bowlers failed to defend fighting totals, 181 and 173 against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, respectively, to lose in the penultimate delivery in both the matches.
They did not take a single wicket in the Power Play against Sri Lanka, and so much was dependent on the experienced off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin that by the time he was brought into the attack after seven overs, Sri Lanka were already off to a bright start, scoring at nine an over.
Death over specialist Bhuvneshwar Kumar did not come good towards the end of the run chase that he conceded 19 and 14 against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, respectively, in the 19th over of the team’s run chase. Questions were being raised about his efficiency. It was left to the young Arshdeep Singh, playing only in his second month of international cricket, to defend identical seven runs that both Pakistan and Sri Lanka needed in their respective last over. If at all, Arshdeep will only get richer in experiences by bowling these tense overs.
India captain Rohit Sharma defended Kumar saying that one cannot judge by not being able to do well in just two matches. He is not worried about Kumar’s failure to deliver in the last couple of matches.
“No worry. You don’t start worrying after losing two games. We don’t talk like this in our dressing room. We’ve won so many matches post the World Cup. Yes, we’ve lost two games here but I don’t think it’s a matter of worry. Experienced players get out, experienced players concede runs, these things are normal. I don’t think we should worry about these things. Bhuvi has been playing for so many years and winning games for us in the death overs. With one or two games, we shouldn’t be judgmental,” said Rohit after the six-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka on Tuesday that delivered the knock-out punch.
With India’s strength being batting deep, consistency was missing. Either the top-order shines and the middle-order flops or it is the other way round. It is time that the top-order gives the base for a big score and for the middle-order to take it further consistently.
Like India, Afghanistan also won both their Group B matches before finding themselves at the bottom of the table in Super Four with two losses. They were off to a dream start to the tournament, trouncing Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by bowling them cheaply and winning by eight wickets and seven wickets, respectively. However, when it came to Super Four, they were sorted by both Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
For academic interest, India have won all the three T20I matches against Afghanistan played so far – all coming in the ICC T20 World Cup (2010, 2012 and 2021).
With the Asia Cup surrendered, India have nothing to lose and can experiment one more time in their quest to find the answers by trying various combinations. Like Rohit said while addressing the media following Tuesday’s defeat, “After this, we have two more series and then the World Cup. Till the World Cup squad is announced, we can try out a few players.”
One of them could be by playing Axar Patel, who has replaced the injured Ravindra Jadeja but has not got a game so far.
From here on, India should earnestly look at playing with a settled team keeping the World Cup in mind.
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