Dubai 7 September : Rohit Sharma’s excellent performance was in the wrong direction in the end as Sri Lanka produced a clinical performance to defeat India by six wickets and lead the Super Four table in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium here on Tuesday.After a rout of Afghanistan This was Sri Lanka’s second win in Sri Lanka in the Super Four stage, and they are now all but to the Asia Cup final.
On the other side this was the second straight loss for India and they are now on the edge of being eliminated.India is officially eliminated of the tournament If Pakistan win against Afghanistan on Wednesday.
An attack by captain Rohit Sharma (72 off 41) helped lift India to a formidable 173-8 in 20 overs.Following Rohit, Suryakumar Yadav (34 off 29) was the second highest-scoring player for India who would have preferred greater contributions from their lower order batters.
In Sri Lanka, Dilshan Madushanka (3/24), Chamika Karunaratne (2/27) and Dasun Shanaka (2/26) were the primary wicket-takers.
In pursuit of a challenging number, Kusal Mendis (57 off 37) and Pathum Nissanka (52 off 37) gave Sri Lanka a flying start.
It was a smart approach to bat by both Nissanka and Mendis.They were cautious in the initial two overs after both Bhuvneshwar and Arshdeep were able to find a swing.
After that, they played with abandon and took Sri Lanka to 57-0 in the first six overs.
After the powerplay, they carried on their good work, putting together an opening stand of 97 runs, before Nissanka was able to get leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in 11.1 overs with an inverse sweep.The uninspiring Asalanka then topped-edged a slog sweep, and then India were back in the match.
Ashwin then removed the well-played Gunathilaka who was caught at long-off.Chahal then put Mendis in a plumb in the front of the stumps with his slider as India began to creep into the game.
But, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (25 not out of 17) hit a six of Chahal as well as Ashwin in order to get Sri Lanka back in striking range.
With three more overs to go, Rohit had a call to make with one over each of Hardik, Arshdeep and Bhuvneshwar left.
He gave the 18th over to Hardik who scored 12 runs from the over.In the event of Sri Lanka needing 21 off 12 they were in a position to win and Bhuvneshwar was again given the task to play the 19th over in the favour of India however, he was unable to bowl his wide yorkers.
the 14-run run over left Arshdeep to protect seven.
The young left-arm seamer performed well to carry his game to the final ball, releasing a string of yorkers, but Dasun Shanaka (33 not out of 18) and Rajapaksa kept their cool and helped Sri Lanka to win in 19.5 overs.In the case of India, Yuzvendra Chahal took three wickets for 34 runs.Ravichandran Ashwin got one.
Prior to that, bat the first time, India started off with an unlucky start and lost the wickets of K.L Rahul (6) and Virat Kohli (0) within three of the initial overs.Maheesh Theekshana initially snatched Rahul by a swinging shot after which the pacer Dilshan Madushanka got rid of Kohli for a four-ball duck, leaving India in danger at 13-2 following 2.4 overs.
Despite losing wickets captain Rohit Sharma stuck to the batting rules he along with the management enforced on the team.The team chose to attack counter-attack.The opener hit Asita Fernando to score 14 runs, bringing India to 44/2 in just 6 overs.
After the powerplay was over, the Indian skipper continued to lead his team with his ferocious style.On the other side, Suryakumar Yadav was still struggling to get his feet moving however India were on top with 79/2 after just 10 overs.
The premier Sri Lankan spinner Hasaranga wasn’t enough effective and Rohit took his wicket to the ground and hit him with two sixes as well as a fourth, for an 18-run loss.It was Chamika Karunaratne who provided Sri Lanka the much-needed breakthrough by getting rid of Rohit for 72 runs with the short ball.
The score was 110/3 following 12.2 overs.Rohit was dismissed.India were looking to have an impressive final but failed to arrive with wickets falling in the form of a pile.
After Suryakumar was dismissed when he was playing an instinctive ramp shot, the burden was placed on Hardik Pandya (17) and Rishabh Pant (17) to make a strong finish for India but they were both dismissed at crucial points.
Deepak Hooda (3) was also unable to achieve much despite receiving a lifeline.
It was Ravichandran Ashwin (15 off 7) who struck the six in the final over to increase India to 173-8 in 20 overs.
Brief Scores: India 173 for 8 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 72, Suryakumar Yadav 34; Dilshan Madushanka 3/24, Dasun Shanaka 2/26) lost to Sri Lanka 174-4 in 19.5 Overs (Kusal Mendis 57 and Pathum Nissanka 52; Yuzvendra Chahal 3/34) by 6 wickets
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