India Knocked Out of Asia Cup 2022: Three Reasons Why Rohit Sharma's Men Failed To Reach The Cricket Tournament's Final
As the Asia Cup 2022 was in offing, the defending champions of the Asia Cup were thought to be favourites in the tournament, however, successive defeats in the second round prompted their exit from the finalist race even before their completion of round two matches.
Seven-time Asia Cup winners, India were knocked out of the Asia Cup 2022 after Pakistan defeated Afghanistan in a breathtaking encounter by one wicket on Wednesday at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Earlier, India had lost consecutive two games in the super four round against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which left slim chances for men in blue to qualify for the finals and partly depended on Pakistan's loss against Afghanistan. As the Asia Cup 2022 was in offing, the defending champions of the Asia Cup were thought to be favourites in the tournament, however, successive defeats in the second round prompted their exit from the finalist race even before their completion of round two matches. Despite clearing the group stage unbeaten, let's peek into the last week and find out what transpired in the super four round which resulted in India's failure to reach to finals. India Out of Asia Cup 2022 Final Race As Pakistan Beat Afghanistan in Super 4 Cricket Match; Set up Summit Clash Against Sri Lanka.
Too Many Experiments
Indian team management were doubtful between Dinesh Karthik and Rishab Pant as to who should be played in the final eleven and had resorted with Karthik finally for two group matches. However, in the super four round, selectors picked Pant over Karthik who flopped against Pakistan scoring only 14. The selectors continued with Pant against Sri-Lanka in a crucial match where he failed once again and couldn't deliver as required. Avesh Khan who played group matches was replaced by Ravi Bishnoi in the super four match against Pakistan and then team management dropped Bishnoi in the important match against Sri Lanka, bringing in Ravichandran Ashwin which seemed too much confusing. Such frequent replacements were quite disturbing as well. Deepak Hooda who joined the team in the second round was sent down the batting order at number 7 which didn't work for the team.
Middle Order Failed to Fire
After some cracking cameos in the group matches, the Indian middle order failed to deliver big time in the super four round. Hardik Pandya who had submitted a match-winning performance against Pakistan in the opening group match, failed miserably in the second round against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, departing on 0 and 17 runs respectively. Suryakumar Yadav who had top-scored 68 not out off just 26 balls against Hong Kong in the second group match, miscarried his innings against Pakistan in the super four matches and got out on just 13 runs. Rishab Pant who replaced Dinesh Karthik in the crucial super round to add the left-hand prop to the Indian batting line-up also flopped miserably against both Pakistan and Sri Lanka in round two by scoring just 14 and 17 runs.
Losing Consecutive Tosses in Super Four Round
What's famous about UAE pitches; Win the toss, chase and seal the deal. The dew factor that is present at night aids the trajectory of the ball coming on to bat in any direction in the second innings. India lost back-to-back tosses against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the super four round and were ordained to bat first in either game. Men in blue failed to defend even big scores like 182 and 174 runs against Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively. Had India won the toss in any one of the two super four games, the story might have been different today.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 08, 2022 08:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).