Asia Cup 2022: Five flaws plaguing Team India

Asia Cup... Lack of big game temperamentAs in the past, India excelled in the build-up to the Asia Cup, winning bilateral games against Ireland and England. But the performance dipped dramatically again in a major tournament, especially in the crunch games. Some sub-par performances in crunch games are responsible for this. Suryakumar Yadav has a strike rate of 160 in this Asia Cup, mainly due to his 26-ball 68 (strike rate 243) against minnows Hong Kong. Against Pakistan, he scored 18 off 18 balls and 13 off 10. Against Sri Lanka he made 34 off 29 balls. Which means in these key games, he had a modest strike rate of 118. KL Rahul has a strike rate of 104, Hooda 106 and Pant 124 in this edition.

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Four years ago, when he stood in for regular captain Virat Kohli in the 50-over Asia Cup here in the UAE, Rohit Sharma had claimed that the constant chopping and changing in the middle order was not going to help India's cause in the lead-up to the 2019 World Cup.

Absence of consistencyYuzvendra Chahal, India's premier leg-spinner, had one good match. Rahul has an average of 17 in four games. Against both Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super 4 stage, senior paceman Bhuvi bowled a disastrous 19th over, giving away 19 runs and 14 runs respectively, including two wides each. Among the batters, the middle order of Yadav, Pant and Hooda were major let-downs. Too many one-trick poniesArshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal were subpar in the field. Left-armer Arshdeep, shaping up as a neat death-overs bowler, dropped a dolly against Pakistan. Chahal spilled one off his own bowling against Pakistan in the opener. Against Sri Lanka, he didn't