Defending champions India succumbed to a six-wicket hapless defeat at the hands of five-time title holders Sri Lanka in Asia Cup's Super Four clash on Tuesday (September 6).
The result left India at the mercy of the other teams to have a chance of making it to the final. It also meant that India skipper Rohit Sharma's scintillating 41-ball 72 went in vain, as the islanders completed a chase of 174 with a ball to spare.
Needing 21 in 12 balls, Sri Lanka scored 14 runs off the penultimate over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, almost sealing it in their favour. India will be out of the tournament if Pakistan beat Afghanistan on Wednesday.
However, India still have an outside chance to make it to the Asia Cup 2022's final but for that Rohit Sharma-led side will have to wait for other match results of the tournament to go their way.
Here are the remaining games of Asia Cup 2022:
Pakistan vs Afghanistan in Dubai on September 7, Wednesday
India vs Afghanistan in Dubai on September 8, Thursday
Sri Lanka vs Pakistan in Dubai on September 9, Friday
Final on September 11, Sunday in Dubai
All the remaining teams in the Asia cup 2022 must be on 2 points each, and India must have a better run rate than their rivals to have a chance to qualify for the final of the Asia Cup 2022.
First of all, Team India would hope Afghanistan to beat Pakistan on Wednesday (September 7). Then, they will have to follow it up by record an emphatic win over Afghanistan on Thursday (September 8) by a huge margin to ensure a good net run rate.
Moreover, the Men in Blue would want the Sri Lanka to defeat Pakistan in their final Super Four clash. This scenario will ensure Sri Lanka's final berth with six points which will leave India, Pakistan and Afghanistan with two points each.
Net Run Rate will come into play to decide the tie-break and the team with the best NRR will qualify for the final.
But on Wednesday if Pakistan manage to beat Afghanistan, India's slim hope of making it to the Asia Cup 2022's final will be dashed.
India kicked off their Asia Cup campaign in style as they won both the matches in the Group stage. They first defeated Pakistan by five wickets and followed it up with a 40-run facile victory against Hong Kong to march into the Group Fours stage.
In their first Group Four match they were handed a five-wicket loss aganst the arch-rivals Pakistan and then suffered back-to-back loss at the hands of five-time champions Sri Lanka.
It will be interesting to see if the defending champions, who are on the verge of Asia Cup ouster, can still make it to the summit clash or not.