Asia Cup 2022: Nowhere to hide for India

Middle-order crumbles again as Sri Lanka push Rohit & Co to the exit door of Asia Cup
Indian players react to a throw during the Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka at Dubai on Tuesday | AFP
Indian players react to a throw during the Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka at Dubai on Tuesday | AFP

CHENNAI: Where did it all go wrong? Let’s start with the first thing. It’s no secret that India would play R Ashwin. But in whose place was the question? India went with a defensive approach against Sri Lanka in Dubai on Tuesday, dropping a frontline bowler in Ravi Bishnoi for the off-spinner. They didn’t bring in Axar Patel for Deepak Hooda. As a result, they were left with just five proper bowling options, just like the game against Pakistan on Sunday.

Even if that was what they wanted, there is a case to be made that Ashwin must have come in for Yuzvendra Chahal and not Bishnoi. Chahal’s figures so far in the Asia Cup read 0/32, 0/18 and 1/43. Bishnoi, on the other hand, was the biggest positive for India in an otherwise dismal bowling performance against Pakistan. While it is true that Bishnoi is more of a googly bowler than a leg-spinner, purely based on form, India could have backed him in a must-win clash.

And it didn’t go their way as Chahal went for 23 runs in his first two. That Sri Lankan openers — Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis — had taken apart the pace trio early on meant that India couldn’t afford to hold back Ashwin for the left-handers. The off-spinner was economical and Chahal came back strongly to pick up two wickets in an over. He followed it up with another final over, but the damage had already been done.

It seemed like there was still hope for India when Ashwin got rid of Danushka Gunathilaka. But Bhanuka Rajapaksha with captain Dasun Shanaka - who has been the star of the Asia Cup for Sri Lanka - held their nerve to take his side home in the penultimate ball of the match.

In the batting department, there was very little to fault India in the first 12 overs. Having had his share of short bursts — an average of 23.4 at a strike rate of 138.18 in the last 16 innings through 2022, a big inning from Rohit Sharma was due.

Despite the early dismissals of KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, he did not take his pedal off the accelerator. He charged down at Asitha Fernando, who went short. He reacted by using his hands to hook while standing upright in the middle of the pitch.

Off the next delivery, back of a length, he rocked back and punched through point with a vertical bat. When the leg-spinners came on, he just tried to hit them out of the attack and was fairly successful at it. A 32-ball half-century ended with 72 runs from 41 balls as Rohit tried to keep the momentum going. When he got out, India was 110/3 in 12.2 overs.

But that was the end of it. They had kept Hooda, a top-order batter, at No 7, when in fact they could have played Dinesh Karthik, someone who is more suited for the role, especially when they weren’t going to use Hooda’s off-spin and picked Axar in place of Rishabh Pant.

The middle-order collapsed, leaving Ashwin to scrape through the last two overs as they finished with 173/8. Irrespective of the result, India can take heart from the fact that they stuck to the approach they are trying to build which, at times, comes with a cost as it did on Tuesday.

Brief scores: India 173/8 in 20 ovs (Rohit 72, Suryakumar 34; Madushanka 3/24) lost to Sri Lanka 174/4 in 19.5 ovs (Kusal Mendis 57, Pathum Nissanka 52, Chahal 3/34).

Today’s match: Afghanistan vs Pakistan from 7:30 PM, Star Sports Networks

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com