Rohit Sharma-led Team India once again fizzled out in their second thrilling Super Four tie as they lost to resurgent Sri Lanka by six-wickets in the ongoing Asia Cup on Tuesday (September 6).
The back to back defeats left India in lurch as they are at the mercy of the other teams to have a chance of making it to the final. It also meant that India skipper Rohit's scintillating 41-ball 72 went in vain, as the islanders completed a chase of 174 with a ball to spare.
In both the matches, the Men in Blue failed to defend totals and the targets that they set also seemed below par considering the kind of starts they made to the innings.
Meanwhile, India's Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara highlighted the middle order woes which has been troubling the team dearly in the Asia Cup.
“The overs between 6 and 15 and then we are not finishing as well because we are losing too many wickets in the middle overs and then we don't have proper batters after the 15th over. I think we need to figure that out, learn to bat well in that period,” said Pujara on ESPNCricinfo.
“Today we didn't start well, lost a couple of wickets early on. But if we look at the game against Pakistan, we got off to a good start but still kept on losing wickets between 6 and 15. In the last five overs, we can't go hard. So I think it's the middle overs where we will have to work a bit more on our batting,” he further added.
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.
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.
