Asia Cup 2022: India VS Sri Lanka - Defeating India by six wickets, Sri Lanka secures a place in the Asia Cup final
If you want to know how important the 19th over is in T20I cricket, the last two matches of India speak all about it. Bhuvneshwar Kumar failed to defend runs in the 19th over, and India lost the game exactly like the previous match against Pakistan - failing to protect 7 of 6
Skipper Dasun Shanaka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa seal win for Sri LankaIn death overs, even a perfect yorker costs one run. There was nothing else Arshdeep Singh could do. A heated moment to take a run-out and overthrow ended the match for India.
Skipper Dasun Shanaka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa stood firm in the end, absorbing the pressure. They took the match to the last over and won by six wickets.
Sri Lanka has won their last three games, chasing back-to-back and is the first team to be pushed into the Asia Cup finals. A team no one believed in at the start is now the favourites to win the title.
Winning the toss, Sri Lanka invited India to bat first, and the former team made the most use of the decision. They dismissed KL Rahul (6) and Virat Kohli (0) within three overs to leave India at 13/2. Suryakumar coming in at three, anchored the inning with Rohit Sharma to build a 97-run partnership.
Rohit Sharma played brilliantly to score 110/3 in 12.2 overs as he scored 72 off 41. But later on, none of the middle or lower batters contributed per expectation to the team's total. Sri Lankan bowlers bowled brilliantly to restrict the Indian team to 173/8 in 20 overs. With the absence of Dinesh Karthik, India again struggled to hit big in the death overs.
"The kind of runs we got, we could have capitalised a bit more. We were 10-15 runs short. The guys out in the middle need to learn what they need to do and what kind of shot-making can happen", said Rohit Sharma.
"India have been short of fire in the end-overs. No fangs. It is a concern." - Harsha Bhogle.
A 97-run opening stand between Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka in just 67 balls set the perfect base for the chase game to commence, which found its conclusion with another unbeaten 64-run stand between Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Dasun Shanaka to seal the win.
Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin tried to turn the match a little when they quickly took three wickets, but then Dasun Shanaka took things very strongly forward.
India will face Afghanistan in the next fixture on 8th September 2022. Meanwhile, all eyes will be on tomorrow's clash between Pakistan and Afghanistan. If Pakistan beats Afghanistan tomorrow, India and Afghanistan will be eliminated from the Asia Cup.
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