Indian captain Rohit Sharma has taken a brutal dig at the Indian middle-order after Sri Lanka beat India by 4 wickets to hand the latter their 2nd loss of the Super4 stage. Team India now stands on the verge of being knocked out of Asia Cup 2022 and their qualification for the Asia Cup 2022 final depends on the results of other teams.
Having won the toss, Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka invited India to bat first. The Men in Blue had a shaky start with 2 wickets falling down for just 22 runs in the powerplay. However, Rohit stitched a partnership with Suryakumar Yadav for the 4th wicket and completed his half-century. A late over-finish was needed and India’s middle order disappointed once again.
Team India could manage only 174 runs in their 20 overs.
Rohit Sharma Takes A Dig At Indian Middle Order
“We just ended up on the wrong side, as simple as that. We could have capitalized on the first half of our innings. We fell 10-15 runs short. The second half wasn’t good for us. The guys who were out in the middle can learn about what shots can be played. These things can happen. Losses like these will make us understand what works as a team,” Rohit Sharma stated in the post-match presentation.
“With the ball, it was a good effort to take it to the last over considering the start they had. The spinners bowled aggressively and got wickets in the middle overs, but Sri Lanka held their nerve. We thought with the bigger boundary we could use the spinners well. But the plan didn’t work out.”
“Their right-handers batted for very long. I thought of bringing in Hooda and using the longer boundaries. But I was happy with the three seamers. Unfortunately, Avesh hasn’t turned up well in the fitness tests. He didn’t respond well because he was quite sick. Ideally, the combination we would play is four-seamers, but three-seamers were something we wanted to try before the World Cup.”
“We need to find answers as a team, like where we are with five bowlers. We know now where we stand with this combination. No long-term worries, we have lost only two games back to back. Since the last World Cup, we haven’t lost too many games. These games will teach us. We wanted to put ourselves under pressure in the Asia Cup.”
“We are still looking for answers. These were two back-to-back games of close finishes. Have to give a lot (of credit) to Arshdeep for bowling at the death and for the way he bowled. Chahal and Bhuvi are the senior pros and have been doing it for a while. I need to get answers from the younger ones,” Rohit Sharma concluded.
India are now dependent on the results of other teams for their qualification scenario to the final. If India have to qualify for the final, Afghanistan will have to beat Pakistan, India will have to beat Afghanistan, Sri Lanka should beat Pakistan, and India’s NRR should be better than Afghanistan and Pakistan.
