Asia Cup 2022: India need miracle to reach Asia Cup final after Sri Lanka defeat

Gulf News

Sri Lanka beat India by 6 wickets in the Super 4 of the Asia Cup 2022 at the Dubai International Stadium. It means the Men in Blue are now on the verge of being knocked out of the tournament. They will need to rely on other results and the run rate if they are to book their spots in the final. Mr. Cricket UAE Anis Sajan and the Gulf News team discuss what went wrong for India tonight…  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/sport/cricket/as-it-happened-sri-lanka-beat-india-by-6-wickets-in-super-4-of-asia-cup-in-dubai-1.1662472670729  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #cricketnews #asiacup2022

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to Golf News Straight Back. Tonight it was India against Sri Lanka in

00:13the Super 4 of the Asia Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium and India have lost. Sri Lanka

00:21won the match by six wickets. I think there was one ball to spare. Anis, what were your

00:25thoughts on that match please? Thank you Imran. Hello Satish and hello to all the

00:31lovely people of Golf News. Definitely a disappointing loss for India. I can only say, I'll sum

00:37it up in a couple of lines, that India haven't learned from the last World Cup. They keep

00:41on repeating the same mistake. They win bilateral series. When it comes, this is not a pinnacle

00:46like the World Cup, but this was an ideal platform and I heard Khloek Sharma saying

00:51that I wanted to get answers. I hope he's got the answers before the World Cup starts,

00:55but I'm afraid they're repeating the same mistakes time and again, which I'll complete

00:59that when you come back to me again. So now it isn't completely over. They're at the mercy

01:07of some other results going their way and they'll need the run rate to be in their favour

01:11as well. But Anis, your team basically, they're looking for a miracle now, aren't they? Obviously,

01:17when you lose two matches in a row, there is such a thin margin to be in the tournament.

01:24In the first round, if a team loses one game, they are at the brink of elimination and Sri

01:28Lanka came back after being bundled out for 100 by Afghanistan. They've shown character

01:33in the three games. Now it comes to India now, they have to hope. One thing is for sure,

01:38there's no India-Pakistan final. The mercy is Sri Lanka-Afghanistan beats Pakistan and

01:47Sri Lanka beats Pakistan and India beat Afghanistan. That's the only way. That's asking for too

01:53much. But let's keep that aside for a while. I would like to sum up as to what mistakes

01:58India made. One is, whenever India is put in the corner, we're batting first, like they

02:03happened in the last World Cup. Today also, they were in a spot of bother, but Rohit Sharma

02:07bailed them out with magnificent innings and you have to give credit to him. He batted

02:12superbly, but once again, the middle order came in. They did not finish well and Sri

02:16Lanka, let me be very honest, did not have experience in the bowling attack. But Madhu

02:20Shankar and other guys came in and bowled their hearts out. So as much as I'm disappointed

02:25as an Indian, I want to give credit to the Sri Lankans who played superbly, their country

02:29is in a political turmoil, but they brought a smile to, I would say, whatever population

02:35of Sri Lanka with this win. And I think they have put one foot in the door for making it

02:40to the finals.

02:41Yeah, let's continue with the Sri Lanka theme. Satish, they came into the match having beaten

02:47Bangladesh and they beat Afghanistan. In both those games, they were chasing down

02:51those targets. Now tonight, they won the toss and they decided to bowl, to chase again,

02:57and it worked again. How good were they overall?

03:01Imran, I think I wrote a few days ago, the toss is becoming very crucial in this tournament

03:09and just like the way it was in the T20. Though in several press conferences, we asked the

03:14players, they said, no, there's not much of a change. But certainly, there is a difference

03:19in the structure of the wicket that gives a slight edge. That is one part of it. And

03:24so Sri Lanka must be banking on that because they have successfully chased that confidence

03:29is there, number one. The wicket is easing up a bit. So obviously, it is working in their

03:35favour and I'm sure they would have gone for that. And secondly is, if I have to say that

03:41another reason that caused downfall for India is the poor batting middle order in the last

03:47two games. They have not batted to their potential. Literally, even today, 173, they could have gone

03:55on to score another 15 runs. The same with Pakistan, India could have gone on to score

04:00about 200. So they are missing that 15 runs in the last, let's say from the 15th over to the

04:06maybe 13th over to the 20th over, a couple of wickets, they go down and then finish poorly.

04:13So they're losing 15 runs and that is showing up where they have lost in the last one ball to spare

04:19against both the teams. But as Anish Bhai said, still India is with a mathematical chance,

04:24but it's an extremely miracle needs to happen for India to come into the final.

04:30Anish, just on that point that Satish has made about the batting. Now, look, we've mentioned

04:34KL Rahul before. He's been struggling. He got again, what, five or six today. And then

04:39Virat Kohli, surprisingly, who had picked up a bit of form. He got a couple of 50s in the last

04:43two games. He got out for a duck today. I mean, that's clearly not the sign of a man regaining

04:48his form, is it? What's wrong with him? Let's be very honest. He regained some form,

04:53but this was a very ugly shot, which is not his character, the way he plays cricket. Yes,

04:57India has decided to play an aggressive brand of cricket, but not all players have to follow that

05:03same style of cricket. If one player can hold the inning like the Rootes holds or the Smiths holds

05:08or the Williamson holds, the other guys can bat around him. And his wicket, I've always repeatedly

05:13said, puts a cat among the pigeons, especially in the Indian camp and gives the confidence to the

05:18other side. But having said that, Rohit Sharma bailed India out today. India went 90 for two.

05:22And at that time, I believe the likes of Surya Kumar Yadav had to step in. Surya Kumar Yadav did

05:28well at that time when Rohit was going great gun, but it was time for him to up the ante.

05:33It was time for Hardik to up the ante. It was time for Pant to up the ante. And I have to add,

05:39India, again, like the 2019 World Cup has been playing this cat and mouse game.

05:44You have decided that you want to have this guy DK as your finisher. And you're getting Deepak

05:50Hooda in this format, where there is little margin for you to come back. With due respect to Deepak

05:56Hooda, I wouldn't blame him for this defeat, because he's just four or five months' match is

06:01old. Dinesh Karthik comes with heaps of experience, and he showed it in the IPL. And again, I'm not

06:07saying IPL is the platform, but he showed in a few games that he can finish well. You can't expect

06:12Deepak Hooda to finish at number three, to finish at number six and number seven, the finishing

06:16touch. This is not right. You've got to back your guys, whether it is the Ashwins or whether it is

06:22the DK. I'll come to the Ashwin point later when I get another opportunity. But here I want to say,

06:27they missed an opportunity by not playing DK. In the first game he played, he had played one ball.

06:31So if you're dropping him and you want to take Pant, because you feel he's an X-factor,

06:35then take both of them. And if you're not going to bowl Deepak Hooda, then don't play him.

06:40Anish, how badly did this injury to Jadeja affect the entire team? Clearly,

06:45the balance has been disrupted. And the reasons for these guys' inclusions has

06:49possibly resulted in the defeat today.

06:52Imran, you know what, now we can talk about this injury to Jadeja and that it has affected

06:57because you lost an all-rounder who can bowl and bat. But you were talking about a team which

07:02has got three teams, A, B and C. So there is an opportunity with adversities comes opportunities

07:07and there were opportunities for the other guys to grab it. We can't be talking about

07:12losing the toss. I agree with Satish that batting in the first half is a little difficult. But now,

07:17as I mentioned in the start of the show, we haven't learned from the last year. If you

07:21know your problem is batting first, then you need to make sure that you dig in and then

07:28go hard in the end. Our problem is we are not going hard in the end. We're not able

07:32to finish off well. Now, coming to the point what you asked me, I forgot about that point

07:36talking about toss. You just did ask me another question, I guess. I lost that track. What was

07:41that, Satish? Jadeja not being there. I gave that answer that there was an opportunity for

07:49Deepak Ghoda. But again, he's a rookie. He's just come in. You can't expect him to just

07:53blow a miracle. That's the reason I'm surprised. In a pressure game, you're not getting an

07:56experienced player. You want punch and play. But why not play kicking?

08:02Look, Satish, Anis is saying the team hasn't learned. They're not learning from the mistakes.

08:06You've got the T20 World Cup coming up in Australia next month. This isn't looking very

08:11good for India, is it? I wouldn't say that way. Because, though, again, Dravid in a

08:18press conference says that we are not experimenting. We want to win and all that. I'm sure the team

08:23is experimenting now. They are experimenting big time to get the right composition. They're

08:27trying to see how these people perform. Maybe they're looking at Ghoda as an option.

08:33They're trying to figure out who's in, who's out. There are a lot of combination going on,

08:39so that's why I get a strong feeling that Dike is a certainty for the World Cup. But they wanted

08:44to try somebody else to keep him. But again, at what cost, I don't know. But they say that

08:51they are not experimenting. They are certainly experimenting in a few ways. Yes, as Anisbhai

08:57says, we all have been talking about it. Dibakhoda can't bowl even a single ball.

09:03Why pick him then when there is scouting? But I think they wanted to give him some chances.

09:09They wanted to test him under the pressure situation and see how he comes out of it.

09:14And again, the middle order needs to be better played. Another one which I've been noticing

09:22for the last two games is India has been losing wickets in pairs. You lose two wickets in pairs

09:28two times and then you're finished in a T20 game. I think this has happened the second time now.

09:33KL Rahul and Virat Kohli got out. The previous game, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul got out. So,

09:38that was the first two. Then Surya Kumar Yadav and Pant got out in the middle overs,

09:42somewhere around the 11th and 12th over. So, last 6-7 overs, India couldn't push their run rate.

09:48And a similar thing happened today as well, around the 13th over, 14th over. India lost

09:54Surya Kumar and Pandya and that 20-15-20 runs, India couldn't get that. So,

10:02this is where we are missing. But I don't see it as an alarming thing for me, to be honest.

10:08Satish, one second, please. Anish, for example, Satish is saying there shouldn't be too worried.

10:24But clearly, you're very concerned about the way they're playing the World Cup around the corner.

10:27Do you think there's possibly a chance now for Pandya to become the captain and make the team

10:32his own? And will there be some big changes there? No, no, no. I don't think a captainship

10:37change is happening. For sure. I don't say that Rohit is a bad captain. Let me correct myself.

10:42And I've never said that. He's one of the smartest streets, smart captain. You can't win IPLs,

10:46five IPL titles. But now coming back to what Satish has been saying, that there's no alarm

10:50bells. I'm afraid there is alarm bells. If you keep winning bilateral series and you don't win

10:55the bigger tournaments, whether it is the Champions Trophy, whether it is...

10:58Okay, we won the Asia Cup in 2018. But I'm talking about the T20 format here.

11:04And we haven't won anything big after 2007, Satish. And if we are not going to learn from

11:12what happened in the World Cup, which happened last year, where we said that batting first is

11:16difficult. So you should have come out with some plans that how you want to correct yourself.

11:20And if you feel that you're going to play Ashwin just because there are left-handers,

11:23you're not going to play that guy who bowled beautifully in the last four overs, the leggy,

11:28Ravi Bishnoi. And Ashwin, as much as I like him as a person, but he was not trying to buy wickets,

11:34whereas Shahal was trying to buy wickets. You've got to be brave in situations where you might get

11:38ahead for runs, because you are not defending 220. You were defending 170. So the only way you

11:43could have won is by getting wickets. And you are not going to win games by playing defense.

11:47And the one volleyball where he flighted, Rajapaksha almost gave a catch to Virat Kohli.

11:52So that's my point. You've got to back your guys and not pick players, just one game. Today,

11:58you are playing, other game you are doing. Okay, you're trying. But now I think it's enough that

12:02you know that this is my World Cup team. Irrespective if DK fails in three games, I'm

12:06going to steal back. You can't expect DK just to come and throw a miracle in one game.

12:12What do you think, Satish? Do you agree with that?

12:16I stick to my point. Because otherwise, if they wanted to win Asia Cup, I'm sure they would have

12:21played DK. That's the thing. Do you think they come with a mindset to lose the Asia Cup, Satish?

12:25No, no, no, no. See, you can't, this is again,

12:34Huda did well in the bilateral series. So they wanted to probably test him at a bigger stage.

12:38Similarly, Huda was to give him over. He bowled in West Indies. Why didn't he bowl in these two

12:43matches? That is another question. If you have picked five bowlers, which has Pandya,

12:49so you are not having a fifth regular bowler, whether it is Avish Khan or Hussain Ruda played.

12:54So when you're picking Huda, you did not bowl him in the last match when there was a left-hander

12:58batting. Today again, you had a chance to bowl him. You did not bowl him. I don't see any logic

13:05of playing Huda and asking him to, you know, come in the end. And he did well in the earlier

13:10matches where he came in number three and number four. Here he's coming at the back end, Satish,

13:13come on, give him that opportunity. So if I'm playing Huda, I should make him play 30-40 games

13:19ready for the World Cup. Yeah, but that's exactly what I'm trying to say. They're trying something

13:25because every time you talk to them, they're saying we are working hard. But we are not

13:30testing, but we wanted to win. These are the talks we are getting in. But I'm sure they are testing

13:35something. If they are not, then it differs logic why Dinesh Karthik didn't play the last two games.

13:42Even for that matter, Panth, why didn't he play the first game? Yes, the injuries have

13:48scuttled a little players like Jadeja, Bumrah, Harshal Patel. All these guys I enjoyed.

13:53They'll come back. You had a life-for-life. You had Aksar Patel. If you really had to, get him in.

14:01Anyway, go on. Satish, you know, we all are disappointed with the win. We are not trying

14:06to find flaws. What I'm trying to, again, come to the point, we are not learning from our mistakes.

14:11If we keep repeating the same mistakes, we come to the end of the World Cup and then you say,

14:16we could have done this, we could have done that. But I'm afraid, I can't remember after 2013,

14:21India has won anything big, big, big. And this is Rohit Sharma's probably last World Cup.

14:29Okay, guys, let's have a quick word about Sri Lanka. They were really good tonight. They were

14:35in control of the chase. What was the target? 178, which is a healthy total by India. On look,

14:40one will look like a slow pitch. They raced out the blocks. Mendis and Nisenka gave them a really

14:46good start in the power play. And that's exactly what they needed, didn't they?

14:51Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. And we all knew Kusal Mendis is going to be the dangerous guy.

14:55But it was Patun who started well. And Kusal gave him enough support. And then he was toying with

15:01the bowling. Our Jadeja, rather, Chahal brought us back into the game. But like you have to give

15:05credit, they have that firepower. They have the guys who are scoring the quick 30s and 40s.

15:09And they are not somebody who have got the big names. If you talk about in this team,

15:15when I look at it, the one player which comes to my mind as a superstar in the making is Hasranga.

15:20Tell me, any other players, Satish, you can talk about as a superstar?

15:24No, it is a team that is in the rebuilding process. They don't have any superstars right now.

15:32But two things. One, yes, the start was pretty good. And the Sri Lankans capitalized on that.

15:39Second is, if you look at, it was probably Sri Lanka's day as well. There were too many shots

15:45that fell one feet away, one feet right, one feet left. It happens in cricket. These are some of the

15:51days when things don't go right on your way. But I think it was one of those days. But nothing

15:55taking away credit from Sri Lanka. The way they bowled. More than the batting, I would say,

15:59the way they bowled and got India to 173, where India was looking at somewhere around 190.

16:06That gave them the advantage when the Sri Lankan batters came in and batted.

16:11So, that's where the difference, I would say. Especially the left-arm pacer,

16:15Madhu Shankar, who bowled brilliantly today. Almost hitting the timber twice. And getting

16:22the wickets of Pant. Then you are looking at Kohli. And you are looking at Suryakumar.

16:29Who was the other one? Huda. I think three wickets he got. So, that was a pretty impressive

16:37performance from him. So, all in all, it's an excellent effort from Sri Lanka. And it comes

16:42at a time when the country is desperately looking for some cheer. So, this brings in a lot of cheer

16:48for them. And hopefully, if they go on to win the title, it will add icing on the cake.

16:55Okay, Anis, you get the last say. We're running over the time here. Can India still do it?

17:00How do they need to do it? You've clearly been working it all out. Who do they need to win?

17:04Who needs to lose? Explain it all for us, please.

17:07All right. I remember saying this in the last World Cup also, that Afghanistan probably would

17:12save India's blushes. So, tomorrow, again, Afghanistan has to save India's blushes. If

17:16Pakistan wins, we have the two finalists. So, first, Pakistan has to go down to Afghanistan

17:22in Sharjah, which is their forte. And then we have to hope Sri Lanka beats Pakistan.

17:28Before that, we need to win.

17:32That weight is in their hand. But you know, two things to happen where Pakistan has to lose to

17:37Afghanistan, as well as Sri Lanka, they're asking for too much. Having said that, I still would say

17:42that India has not learned from their mistakes. They are repeating, or probably like Satish is

17:48giving the benefit of the doubt, they're experimenting. Or what Rahul Dravidi says,

17:51he's not experimenting. India has been poor, once again, in the four matches bearing Hong Kong.

17:56India played three matches with bond to the wire. Whether it was the first match, Pakistan

18:01stretched us. The second match, you would say India has been unlucky. No. Good teams make their

18:05own luck. India has not been playing good cricket. All right, guys. All I can say is keep the faith.

18:11There's still a very slim hope. As long as there's a hope, obviously, there's a chance.

18:16We'll leave it there for tonight. We'll be back tomorrow to see how

18:19Afghanistan and Pakistan get on in Sharjah. In the meantime, hopefully another entertaining

18:24contest, Imran. Please head to gulfnews.com for the latest news, reviews, and videos. And we

18:29will see you all again tomorrow night. Thank you and good night.

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