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Team India suffered an agonising six-run defeat against Bangladesh on September 15 (Friday) and ended their Asia Cup Super 4s campaign in a sedate fashion. Yes, it was a sort of second-string Indian unit with Rohit Sharma choosing to rest bigwigs like Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah among others. But, truth be told, the Men in Blue, with the kind of firepower and bench strength at their disposal, were expected to continue the unbeaten run in this year's Asia Cup. As it stands, India will head to the Asia Cup final clash against Sri Lanka on the back of a defeat.
The loss shed light on three aspects that India needs to ponder ahead of the ODI World Cup and for the matches in the future. Let's take a closer look:
Team India without bigwigs lacks a killer mentality
At the toss, Rohit asserted that with final's berth already sealed, the game against Bangladesh was the right moment to try the bench strength. Kohli, Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj were rested for the match with Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav and Prasidh Krishna getting their first go at this year's Asia Cup. The decision backfired for the Men in Blue as the inclusions didn't put their best foot forward against a determined Bangladesh side.
As it stands, India continues to struggle against mediocre teams when they decide to try their bench strength and give opportunities to fringe players.
'Bowlers who can bat', but what's the point?
Skipper Rohit has time and again put emphasis on the importance of selecting players who can contribute in more than one manner. The Hitman's focus has been on prioritising all-rounders, especially bowlers who can contribute handy runs with the bat when the top-order fails.
On Friday, Rohit's idea could have been corroborated had Axar Patel managed to convert his cameo into a match-winning knock or had Shardul Thakur displayed his ability to score crucial runs under extreme pressure. Axar scored 42 runs off 32 balls after being battered and bruised in the middle but couldn't win the game for his team. It's not that India would need Axar and Shardul to contribute with the bat regularly but in the limited chances, like the one on Friday, the country's hopes were pinned on them to deliver. And, it didn't materialise in the fashion in which Rohit would have hoped for.
Suryakumar Yadav continues to deceive in ODIs
It was a strange innings from Suryakumar Yadav on Friday. It seemed like the right-handed batter had decided in the dressing room while waiting for his turn to bat that he was going live and die with the sweep shot. On a wicket that had plenty of assistance for the spinner and with Bangladesh boasting four quality spinners in their ranks, Suryakumar kept sweeping himself out of trouble until he couldn't anymore.
It was surprising also because the right-handed batter has all the shots in his book - the lofted cover drive, the late cut and the straight batted-lofted shots over the bowler's head among others. Yet, Suryakumar persisted with the sweep on a pitch that offered turn and had variable bounce.
Once again, the Mumbaikar failed to seize the opportunity to display his extraordinary skills on the ODI stage.
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