India will face Sri Lanka in their Super Four match in the Asia Cup 2022 on Tuesday. Obviously India would like to improve their bowling after the last match. In the absence of injured Ravindra Jadeja, Harshal Patel and Jasprit Bumrah, India’s bowling department struggled, mainly in the last overs.
India went down against Pakistan on Sunday with five bowling options and two bowlers had a bad day. After a match-winning effort in the opening game against Pakistan, Hardik Pandya proved costly and so was Yuzvendra Chahal, who failed to deliver his best performance in the tournament.
The five-bowler principle also makes Hardik’s four overs all the more important. Axar Patel, who is the choice for a similar replacement to Jadeja, may be brought in in the playing XI to give more balance.
Avesh Khan, who is unwell ahead of the Pakistan match, may also make a comeback as the third specialist pacer. While Rahul Dravid insisted that India would like to play their best XI in the lead up to the World Cup, the Rohit Sharma-led side will continue to experiment.
Nothing is confirmed about Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik in the team yet. Both are strong contenders for the place. It will be interesting to see who the Indian team goes with.
Pakistan’s biggest positive outside the game was the performance of the high-profile top-order. The three upper order batsmen gave a good start to the team but the Indian team could not maintain the momentum in the slog overs.
Sri Lanka have come back with a bang this time, after losing the first match, the batting has stabilized and have managed to finish in the last over. Barring number three Charith Aslanka, Sri Lanka’s batsmen have made an impact, be it captain Dasun Shanaka and Kusal Mendis against Bangladesh or Danushka Gunathilaka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa against Afghanistan.
The Chris Silverwood-coached team is now confident that they can win from any position. It is a developing team but India will be wary of them. Another defeat will take India out of the final race.
After defeating Afghanistan, Shanaka said, it is the belief of the dressing room. As a team we believe we can chase anything on these kind of wickets.
India vs Sri Lanka in T20Is
Matches played: 25; India won – 17; Sri Lanka won – 7; NR – 1
Last faced: India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets (Dharamsala, 2022)
Highest total India vs Sri Lanka: India 260/5 (Indore, 2017)
Minimum total India vs Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka 81/8 (Colombo, 2021)
Highest total India vs Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka 215/5 (Nagpur, 2009)
Minimum total India vs Sri Lanka: India 82/10 (Visakhapatnam, 2016)
India vs Sri Lanka Asia Cup record
Matches played: 25; India won – 17; Sri Lanka won – 7; NR – 1
Last meeting: Sri Lanka beat India by three wickets (Colombo, 2021)
India: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Deepak Hooda, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (Captain), Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nisanka, Kusal Mendis, Charit Aslanka, Bhanuka Rajapakse, Ashen Bandara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Vanindu Hasaranga, Mahesh Thekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Praveen Jayavikrama, Chamika Karunaratne, Dilshana Karunaratne, Dilshanu Pathirana and Dinesh Chandimal.