India’s hopes of making it to the final of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 have almost crashed with their 6-wicket defeat in their second Super Four match against Sri Lanka on Tuesday (September 6) in Dubai.
Now, India’s hopes to qualify for the Asia Cup 2022 final completely depend on the outcome of Pakistan vs. Afghanistan Super Four match, and if the Men in Green manage to outclass Mohammad Nabi’s team, both India and the Afghan team will be out of the race for the final.
Well, coming back to India vs Sri Lanka match, Rohit Sharma played a superb knock of 72 runs, but there wasn’t much support from the other batters, resulting in Team India posting 173/8 in their 20 overs with Dilshan Madushanka snaring three wickets for Sri Lanka.
Defending the total, India had the worst possible start against the Islanders, as Kusal Mendis (57) and Pathum Nissanka (53) put up a record 97-run partnership for the opening start to give Sri Lanka a flying start. However, Yuzvendra Chahal snared three wickets to bring Team India back into the game, but the damage was already done and the match went into the final over.
With Sri Lanka requiring 7 runs off the final 6 balls, Arshdeep Singh bowled some deadly yorkers and made it a tad tough for Sri Lanka to get over the line, but Dasun Shanaka (33*) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa (25*) ran between the wickets to get 2 runs off the penultimate ball of the match to win by 6 wickets.
Well, on that delivery, there were couple of chances of a run-out, but due to Rishabh Pant and Arshdeep Singh missing the stumps, Sri Lankan batters took the side over the line in the final over. Actually, when Sri Lanka needed 2 runs off 2 balls, Shanaka missed the ball, but took a chance for a single, and Pant had a chance to hit the stumps at the striker’s end, but couldn’t find his target.
Thereafter, even Arshdeep had a chance to run out Shanaka at the non-striker’s end, but even he missed, as the ball went to the long on region and the Sri Lankans made the most of the opportunity to take an extra run to take their side over the line with a ball to spare against India.
After India’s defeat, fans were slamming Pant for his poor wicket-keeping, saying he can never be MS Dhoni, as he made mistakes many times in the match, and now India is on the verge of being knocked out of the Asia Cup 2022.
Have a look at how fans reacted to Rishabh Pant's wicketkeeping against Sri Lanka -
