New Delhi: IND vs SL: After suffering a defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the first match of the Asia Cup Super-4 round, India were off to a disastrous start after being invited to bat in their must-win clash against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka easily chased down the target of 174 runs in 20 overs. Batting first in this match, India did not start well. Within 3 overs 2 wickets had fallen. After this Rohit Sharma played the captaincy innings. But, the rest of the batsmen could not support him. Some batsmen started well, especially in the middle order. But, could not convert it into a big innings. Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya once again proved to be a flop with the bat. Apart from these, there are many culprits of India’s defeat.
Sri Lanka dent India's hopes in Asia Cup with six-wicket win in Super Four clash
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KL Rahul’s poor performance continues
Rahul, who had struck a lively 20-ball 28 in Sunday’s game against Pakistan, was struck on the pad and adjudged LBW off Maheesh Theekshana’s bowling in the second over. The limited-overs vice-captain went upstairs right away, given he had taken quite a few steps down the track, but failed to overturn the on-field umpire’s decision after the ball was found to have been clipping the leg stump.
Ever since KL Rahul made a comeback in Team India after surgery. There has not been a big innings from his bat. He made a comeback from the ODI series against Zimbabwe. But, he was able to score 31 runs in the entire series. His form is seen in the Asia Cup as well. His account did not even open against Pakistan in the opening match.
The same happened against Sri Lanka. He got out after scoring 6 runs. Meanwhile, in the match of do or die in the powerplay, India needed a start in the powerplay. Did not get the same and India could not make a big score.
Virat Kohli also settled cheaply
Kohli, who appeared to have regained form with back-to-back half-centuries in his previous outings, was then clean bowled by seamer Dilshan Madushanka, who managed to bring the ball into the batter and breach the defence, making a mess of the furniture and leaving the Men in Blue gasping for air on 13/2 in the third over.
By the way, Kohli is running in excellent form in the Asia Cup. He scored the highest 60 runs in the last match against Pakistan. But, against Sri Lanka, he could not maintain this momentum and became clean bowled by playing bad shots in the pursuit of playing the new template of the team. Kohli could not even open the account while KL Rahul was out in the last over.
Pandya is unable to show power
Leave aside the opening match against Pakistan in the Asia Cup, in which Hardik Pandya played a match-winning innings while chasing the target. Since then, the performance of this all-rounder has been lackluster with both the ball and the bat. Pandya was rested against Hong Kong. He was dismissed for zero in the last match against Pakistan and conceded 44 runs in 4 overs. He expected a good innings against Sri Lanka. But, Hardik was disappointed. He started well. But, could not convert it into a big innings and got out after scoring 17 runs in 13 balls. He also conceded 35 runs in 4 overs.
Pant’s condition is also bad
Rishabh Pant’s bat also remained silent in the Asia Cup so far. He also played as many balls as Hardik and scored the same number of runs. Deepak Hooda also could not capitalize on the opportunity and went on scoring 3 runs in 4 balls. India lost both Hooda and Pant in the 19th over and it was the turning point of the Indian innings. The middle order batsmen spoiled the hard work of captain Rohit Sharma. Rohit scored 72 runs and the rest of the batsmen put together 93 runs.