With two consecutive defeats in two matches in the Asian Cup Super 4 stage, India is about to leave. Their fate is no longer in their own hands. If Pakistan defeats Afghanistan on Wednesday, they will be out of the final battle. On Wednesday, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma scored a sparkling 41-ball 72, but it went in vain as India failed to defend a 174 goal. Sri Lanka needed 21 in 12 balls and scored 14 runs on the penultimate over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, almost sealing in their favour. After the match, former Pakistani great Wasim Akram analyzed what went wrong for Bhuvneshwar in the 19th over.
“Bhuvi is a very good bowler. Don’t get me wrong, but there is no pace. In T20, if you don’t have pace, especially on this kind of pitch, he’s a medium pacer, maybe a little more than a medium pacer. .135 (kmph) You need 140 (kmph) plus bowler like Jasprit Bumrah on the side When he comes on the squad you have two of the best bowlers to bowl the last overs And you need regular bowlers who bowl at death. You can’t pick someone up out of hand. It’s impossible to bowl if you’re not used to the pressure,” Wasim Akram told Star Sports.
Chasing what appeared to be a par score at halftime in the innings, the Sri Lankans got off to a blazing start with openers Kusal Mendis (57 off 37 balls) and Pathum Nissanka (52 off 37 balls) scoring 91 runs at a brisk pace.
The fifty were leading in the sixth over and both batters regularly found the holes and boundaries with great ease, putting enormous pressure on the Indian bowling attack who had no idea against the positive approach of the two Lankan batters.
Leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, however, had other ideas when he struck twice in the 12th left to brake Sri Lanka’s march.
Ravichandran Ashwin sent Danushka Gunathilaka (1) back to leave Sri Lanka with a problem of 110 for three in the 14th left.
In the first ball of the next over, Sri Lanka got a body blow when Chahal got the big wicket from Mendis, who was pinned lbw for the wicket.
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But Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka and (33 out) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa (25 out) stayed until the end to complete the task for their team with a match-winning, fifth-wicket partnership of 64 runs.
With PTI inputs
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