Sri Lankans defeated India in the most thrilling T20 Asia Cup 2022 match today. Sri Lankan team achieved the target of 174 runs on the second last ball of the match.
With their second straight defeat in the Super Four stage, Indian cricket team’s hopes of reaching the final now depends on other results of remaining matches.
Sri Lanka produced an impressive run chase to down India by six wickets on Tuesday and leave their opponents staring at an early exit from the Asia Cup.
If Pakistan beat Afghanistan on Wednesday, they will face Sri Lanka in Sunday’s final and knock out arch-rivals India in the process.
Half-centuries from openers Pathum Nissanka (52) and Kusal Mendis (57) gave Sri Lanka the perfect start to their chase of 174 in the Super Four game.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma was the star with the bat for India as he played a captain’s knock to power his team to a decent 173/8 against Sri Lanka on Tuesday. India lost two wickets inside three overs before a 97-run stand between Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav put them on course for a big total. Rohit made 72 while SKY was out on 34. Sri Lanka though bounced back in the middle overs to dent the progress. Left-arm pacer Dilshan Madushanka was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with 3/24.
Sri Lankan openers created the record of making more than 90 runs partnership against India in T20 matches. After losing four wickets, Sri Lankan team achieved the target of 174 runs and won the match with six wickets in hand.
Earlier, Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and decided to bowl first in Dubai. Shanaka said that his decision is based on the previous records at the venue with teams chasing winning matches. India captain Rohit Sharma agreed with his counterpart saying he would have bowled first too. While Sri Lanka are unchanged, India have made a tactical change bringing in Ravichandran Ashwin in place of Ravi Bishnoi.
In the matter of a match, the positivity surrounding Team India has changed. They started the Asia Cup 2022 with two impressive wins over Pakistan and Hong Kong. However, in their first match of the Super Four where they faced Pakistan for the second time, their shortcomings were exposed. To be fair, they have been a bit unlucky losing star allrounder Ravindra Jadeja to an injury and his absence has been quite visible. This is in addition to the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel which has massively depleted their bowling arsenal.
However, not all is doom and gloom for the defending champions with their top-three showing firing in unison and showing the intent expected of them. KL Rahul and captain Rohit Sharma looked quite aggressive against Pakistan and Virat Kohli is steadily getting back to his best.
