Dubai, September 6: Sri Lanka dealt a body blow to India’s desire to enter the Asia Cup 2022 final with a six-wicket on Tuesday (September 6).
India would now require some serious favour by fortune and NRR to enter the Asia Cup final, which is nearly improbable.
So, what went wrong for India in the Asia Cup 2022 Super 4, after beginning the tournament brightly beating Pakistan and Hong Kong to top Group A.
Here are 4 reasons.
1 Sparse bowling options
India missed the presence of Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel and Mohammed Shami in the Asia Cup 2022. Deepak Chahar too was in the stand by space rather than in the squad. So, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the most experienced bowler for India in the UAE. India fielded two youngsters — Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh — in the 11 and the pacers never delivered consistently and often faltered in the crucial moments.
Even Bhuvenshwar could not deliver on a big day like the match against Pakistan. The pacer had 26 runs to play with in the 19th over but gave away 19 runs in that over as Pakistan required just 7 runs off the last over. But it remains rather perplexing that India had only 3 proper pacers in the 15, and the strategy of using Hardik Pandya as the 4th seamer had its limitations. In short, India did not have a wriggle room in the bowling department
2 Injury to Ravindra Jadeja
Jadeja was ruled out of the Asia Cup 2022 with a knee injury, and even his participation in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 is in doubt now. But in the context of the Asia Cup, the absence of Jadeja robbed India of that critical balance, a handy spinner, a capable lower order batsman and a brilliant fielder. All these, capabilities were visible when India defeated Pakistan the group stage.
3 One way batting approach
India has been looking to embrace more aggressive approach in the T20s post the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. But the top three batters — Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul — collectively delivered only against Pakistan in the Super 4 match, and India lost that match too. Even the middle-order struggled to force the pace as apart from Hong Kong, they often ended up with near-par or sub-par totals. It made big difference in the matches that mattered most against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super 4.
4 Quirky team selections
Deepak Hooda down the order: The hard-hitting batsman needed more time and space up the order. But here Hooda was playing down the order in the Asia Cup, and he could not deliver as expected.
Rishabh Pant ahead of Dinesh Karthik: Karthik has been in good form and you would expect him to find a place in the 11. But India tried Pant against Hong Kong (did not bat), Pakistan and Sri Lanka (both Super 4). But Pant could not deliver as a batsman as India fell short of stronger totals, the over the par totals, which gives the bowlers that cushion.
