Rohit Sharma Rahul Dravid India Sri Lanka Afghanistan Pakistan cricket bowling cup Rohit Sharma Rahul Dravid India Sri Lanka Afghanistan Pakistan

Asia Cup: Out of sorts India face tricky Afghanistan

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The Indian team hasn't performed to its full potential in the Super 4 stage and lack of resources and poor team selection can also be blamed for back-to-back demoralising defeats against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

What ails the current Indian team is lack of flexibility in its planning and perhaps a few fingers will be pointed at head coach Rahul Dravid.

It seems that Dravid is wary of taking a few hard calls when it comes to team selections as the team does not seem to have a Plan B in its armoury.

In this backdrop, an Afghanistan team with some top quality T20 players like Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Zadran, Mohammed Nabi, Hazratullah Zazai and the exciting Rahamanullah Gurbaz can really set the cat amongst pigeons.

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Virat Kohli has got an international hundred on Thursday night. The wait for his 71st international hundred ended when he disdainfully smacked Afghanistan’s Fareed Ahmad over the mid-wicket boundary to bring up his first T20I century off just 53 balls. As he took off his helmet, raised his bat to the smattering of crowd in the stadium and kissed his wedding ring in his necklace, Kohli’s gentle smile screamed of the relief he must have felt. Probably, he would have least expected to bring up his 71st century in the shortest format while opening the innings with regular skipper Rohit Sharma opting to rest in the inconsequential match. As It HappenedOnly an event as special as this could have injected some interest in the match. His innings of unbeaten 122 off 61 balls (with 12 fours and six sixes), which had one blemish when he was dropped on 28 by Ibrahim Zadran at deep mid-wicket off captain Mohammad Nabi, helped India post a mammoth total of 212/2.
India were dealt a major blow in the Asia Cup on Tuesday as Sri Lanka defeated them by six wickets. The loss came two days after Pakistan had defeated them in the first game of the Super 4 stage. In the match against Sri Lanka, 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. Barring Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav (34) none of the other batters could fire. Former India captain Virat Kohli was out for a duck and his performance did not impress former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq.
After a great run in the group stage, expectation were high from Team India at the Asia Cup 2022. However, after two straight defeats in the Super 4 stage to Pakistan and Sri Lanka, India are on brink of exit. India now have to rely on other teams' results, in order to qualify for the final. On Tuesday, India skipper Rohit Sharma's scintillating 41-ball 72 went in vain, as the Sri Lanka 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.
All but out of reckoning for the summit clash, a dishevelled India would like to put their house in order before facing a gutsy Afghanistan team which could prove to be a proverbial banana peel in the final Super 4 clash of the Asia Cup on Thursday. The Indian team hasn't performed to its full potential in the Super 4 stage and lack of resources and poor team selection can also be blamed for back-to-back demoralising defeats against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. What ails the current Indian team is lack of flexibility in its planning and perhaps a few fingers will be pointed at head coach Rahul Dravid.
Asia Cup, the Indian team is facing some flak for a below-par show but skipper Rohit Sharma insists that the team combination is more or less settled going into the T20 World Cup, though, they are still looking for some "answers". The absence of an indisposed Avesh Khan and Ravindra Jadeja, who underwent a knee surgery, meant that India competed with only two frontline seamers -- Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh -- with Hardik Pandya being the third fast-medium option.
India captain Rohit Sharma led from the front with an exciting 41-ball 72 before India stuttered to settle for 173 for eight against Sri Lanka in their Asia Cup Super Four match in Dubai on Tuesday. Rohit blazed away after India lost two early wickets, hitting five fours and four sixes during his entertaining knock. He was well supported by Suryakumar Yadav (34 off 29 balls) during a stand of 97 runs for the third wicket.

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