Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief and former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja explained why the Indian team failed to make it into the final of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022. Sri Lanka will face off against Pakistan in the finals on September 11 at the Dubai International cricket stadium.
While India came into the super 4s group after defeating Pakistan and Hong Kong in the Group A clashes, the Men in Blue failed to win against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in this important stage of the Asia Cup, and when Pakistan defeated Afghanistan, it shut the door on India’s chances for the final.
Prior to the mega face-off on Sunday, Raja addressed a presser where he was asked about the progress of the Babar Azam-led Pakistan cricket team. To explain the present scenario, he compared the team with India which was knocked out of the Asia Cup after losing to Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
“You have seen the team’s ranking; the results are also visible. If we compare the teams of India and Pakistan, people have been asking me why am I playing the same combination. You will leave them injured or so… My point is that we have handled a particular situation and won games. So, why should I change the winning model,” Raja said.
He felt that India's continuous experimentation with the playing XI in the tournament led to their exit before the Asia Cup final.
“India went down only because they are not letting the model set. They are making too many changes. They have a bigger pool of players with which they are experimenting. So, unless you don’t have that kind of bench strength, you don’t need experimentation. You have got a strong position so just hold that and keep winning games,” he added.
This seemed to be true as since Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid have taken over the reins from Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri, the management is trying out various combinations. The trend continued in the Asia Cup 2022 as well where all 5 games saw five different Playing XIs taking the field.
India, however, ended their Asia Cup on a high by defeating Afghanistan by 101 runs in which Virat Kohli scored his maiden T20I ton and 71st international century, his first for almost three years in international cricket.
(News18 inputs)
