Asia Cup 2022: Is the Final at the mercy of the toss?
If you have been following cricket in the UAE, especially at Dubai International Stadium in the past few years, one thing you must have seen is the one who bats second bats better
Toss the bossToss has played a pivotal role more than often at the venue, irrespective of the tournament played. Be it the two editions of IPL, T20 World Cup 2021 or now Asia Cup, teams winning the toss to bat second have had an advantage in all the tournaments.
Expressing the concern over the toss factor in Dubai, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said, "Hopefully, the toss will not play the factor there, and we will just bring our best in Australia."
Babar Azam and Dasun Shanaka, the skippers of the teams reaching the finals, won the toss to choose to bowl first and, consequently, their crucial first two Super 4 matches.
In this Asia Cup, Sri Lanka also showed a remarkable comeback as they won back-to-back four games on a trot, including the pre-finale match against Pakistan. One thing that remained constant was that they won tosses in all these games and opted to bowl first.
Sanjay Manjrekar on Twitter wrote, "Fact that cannot be ignored in this Asia Cup - Teams that lost most tosses in super 4s are not in the finals. India lost all 3. Afghanistan 2. Hence spin of the coin cannot decide who gets a very significant advantage. T20 Cricket needs to explore a fairer method."
"I feel that the toss is playing a big factor in this Asia Cup. If India would have fielded first, I feel things would have been a little different," supported Cheteshwar Pujara after the team got eliminated from Asia Cup.
As the criticism rose on the toss factor in UAE, Pakistan coach Saqlain Mushtaq said, "If you want to become champion, you do not think or talk about toss. You have to be champion in the first innings and second innings as well. We never talk about the toss, and we do not think like that."
Now with all the speculations on the toss factor, heading towards the final on 11th September, a substantial number dictates that the team batting second holds an advantage. Till now, eight teams have won the title in Asia Cup while chasing, and now all the eyes would be on whether the result of the toss dictates the fate of the final match of Asia Cup 2022.