India Loses Against Sri Lanka, May Not Qualify For Finals in Asia Cup 2022

Sri Lanka on September 6th defeated India in its fourth Super 4 match in the Asia Cup 2022 in Dubai by 6 wickets. With this, India is almost out of the tournament, as it lost to Pakistan in its previous match. India’s journey in the series depends on Afghanistan’s performance against Pakistan on Wednesday.

Responding to the Indian challenge of 173 runs, Sri Lankan openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis dominated from the beginning and crossed 50 runs in just five overs.

After losing the toss, the Indian batters made a sloppy start and lost KL Rahul to Maheesh Theekshana and then followed the wicket of Virat Kohli to Sri Lankan bowler Dilshan Madushanka.

However, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma held the ground with Suryakumar Yadav for a good partnership crossing the mark of 100 in just 12 overs. But, soon India lost its skipper Rohit Sharma played a captain’s knock of 72 runs in just 42 balls, hitting 4 sixes and 5 fours. Suryakumar Yadav too followed Sharma and walked to pavilion by scoring 34 runs in 29 balls.

Hardik Pandya and Risabh Pant both scored 17 runs each and walked to pavilion. Following this, the Indian batting collapsed, and however, India managed to put 173 runs in 20 overs by losing eight wickets.

Pathum Nissanka scored an important 52 runs in 37 balls and while Kusal Mendis scored 57 runs in 37 balls.  Like in the previous match against Pakistan, Indian bowlers hardly managed to impress and failed to take early wickets. Though spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took 3 wickets, while Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Danushka Gunathilaka.

In the final over, 22-year-old Arshdeep Singh bowled exceptionally to keep the match neck and neck but an overthrow and fielding error allowed the batsmen to run between the wickets and take the game from the Indians.

With this win, Sri Lanka sits at the top of the points table, while India has been virtually knocked out and they will depend on the results of both Pakistani games. The Island nation is currently at the top of the Super 4 points table with four points and an NRR of 0.3512, while Babar Azam-led Pakistan is second in the tally with two points and an NRR of 0.126.