India's debacle performance in the ongoing Asia Cup have been making headlines after their two back-to-back defeats in the Super 4 stage of the tournament against Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively in a span of just three days. Both the games were close-fought encounters and went into the last overs but India couldn't hold their nerve in the tense situation and were outclassed in both matches.
It would be better to say that India lost both the matches in 19th over of the innings after setting a target of 170+ in both the games. Defending a target of 183 against Pakistan, pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar leaked 19 runs from the penultimate over and Arshdeep Singh was just left with 7 runs to defend off his last over. Arshdeep tried his best to get his over the line as he got a wicket and took the run chase to the penultimate ball.
Similar situation happened in the Super 4 fixture against Sri Lanka, the Islanders were required 21 runs from last two overs. Skipper Rohit Sharma went to his most senior bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the 19th over which is touted as the most crucial over of the innings. Bhuvneshwar was hit for two successive fours by Dasun Shanaka in the over as he conceded 14 runs from it. The equation was simple for Sri Lanka to qualify for the final as they needed seven from the last over. Arshdeeep agains had the monumental task of defending 7 off his 6 balls. The youngster took the game to wire as he kept his yorkers precise but the didn't have much runs to defend as Sri Lanka got over the line on penultimate ball.
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Before the 19th over of the match, Bhuvneshwar remained economical as he just leaked 16 runs from his three overs. The ace pacer returned with the figures of 0-30 in his four overs. It was India's death bowling especially from Bhuvneshwar which shifted the momentum of game in both the encounters.
In the middle overs, spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal did their jobs well as they shared four wickets among them and also remained economical. Both spinners just gave 66 runs in their eight overs.
Earlier, skipper Rohit Sharma 72 off 41 balls guided them to 173/8 in 20 overs. India felt short of 15-20 runs as the middle-order batters especially Hardik Pandya (17), Deepak Hooda (3) and Rishabh Pant (17) remained off colour in the match failed to convert their starts after Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit set the stage for them.
India's hope to play in the Asia Cup final is all but over as they are now dependent upon other matches result to extend their stay in UAE. India will play their last Super 4 match against Afghanistan at Dubai International Stadium on Thursday, September 8.