Asia Cup 2022: Three reasons why India lost to Sri Lanka

Indian Cricket Team (source: Twitter)

India and the Asia Cup is a true love story and the team’s records in the tournament vouch for it. If not for it, the Men in Blue would have not clinched the title for a record seven times. Only the team knows what went wrong for them in the match against Sri Lanka in the Super 4 round of the Asia Cup 2022. 

India kicked off their campaign with two consecutive wins in the group stage. The tables turned in the Super 4 all of a sudden as the same team lost to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super 4 round. The loss against the island nation hurt the fans more than against Pakistan. 

We tried our best to decode three factors that went against India and forced them to lose against Sri Lanka:

1) Middle order failing to fire

Hardik Pandya-Hardik Pandya-Deepak Hooda (Image Source: Twitter)

It is not a mystery or a puzzle to know that the Indian batting is heavily dependent on the top three. But then comes the question of middle-order. Teams consider middle-order to be the backbone of a team’s structure and teams lose when middle-order fails. 

The Indian middle order, consisting of Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Deepak Hooda, failed to fire in the end overs. As a result, India fell 10-15 runs short of the projected score. The Indian team managed to amass only 173 in 20 overs.

2) Lack of ability to pick early wickets

Bhuvneshwar Kumar-Hardik Pandya (Image Source: Twitter)

The Indian bowlers failed to pick early wickets to provide the initial breakthrough for India. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya failed to pick initial wickets upfront. Any team would love their bowlers to pick early wickets for them. 

Arshdeep Singh, however, bowled brilliantly in the death overs. Whereas, the pace spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar leaked runs in the penultimate over. This cost India the match and the bowling attack looks pathetic at the moment.

3) Wrong team selection

Dinesh Karthik-Deepak Hooda (Image Source: Twitter)

The Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid might have missed a trick. Dinesh Karthik was excluded from the playing XI and it was Deepak Hooda who was assigned the role of a finisher. 

Fans opined that the all-rounder was more of an anchor than a finisher, while Dinesh Karthik is known for his finishing skills. Had he played in the match, India’s total would have been different.