Team India on Monday (September 4) qualified for the Super-4 stage of Asia Cup 2023 with a comprehensive 10-wicket victory over Nepal in Pallekele.

Despite the win, former India head coach Ravi Shastri criticized the Indian team’s poor body language, saying that it took them three drop catches to wake up.

The Men in Blue dropped three catches in the first five overs of the match. Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli, and Ishan Kishan made a mess of easy chances during the powerplay.

"The approach, at the very beginning, those catches going down. The body language seemed flat. It took those three catches to wake them up. By that time their openers were going well, Jadeja came and stemmed the rot," Shastri said while speaking to Star Sports.

Nepal openers made the most of three drops and batted aggressively in the first 10 overs. The duo of Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh took on the Indian fast bowlers and added 65 runs for the first wicket.

"Put in to bat which had a little bit of moisture and had something for the fast bowlers, I think Nepal did an outstanding job. They will take that score," Shastri said.

"They went after the bowling. They hit those sixes. Immediately 50 was on the board and the confidence was rubbed off on the middle-order and the lower order. This showed in the last five overs that showed there. It's great. From Nepal's point of view, just think if the crowd that came here. First time the Indian crowd has been outnumbered," he added.

Nepal were able to post 230/10 on the board before getting bowled out in 48.2 overs. Soon after the Indian innings got underway, it started raining and the target was revised to 145 in 23 overs.

In reply, Rohit Sharma (74* off 59 balls) led the team from the front and stitched an unbroken 147-run opening stand with Shubman Gill (67* off 62 balls) to take India over the line in 20.1 overs.

India will next face arch-rivals Pakistan in their first Super-4 match on September 10.