If the country gets out of trouble, India would hope it only has rookies Nepal to tackle and that it won’t rain as the heavyweights aim for a spot in the Super Four of the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka’s Pallekele on Monday to have. From Group A, Pakistan have already qualified for the Super Four with 3 points, and India have one point from Saturday’s failed match against their arch-rivals. Even if there is another rain-marred game tomorrow, India can progress to the Super Four with two points, but Rohit Sharma’s men certainly won’t want it that way.
India received some encouraging signs from their game against Pakistan, and they would like to build on that ahead of the business end of this tournament and much more rigorous testing ahead.
Pakistan’s pacemakers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf had reduced India to 66 for 4 by the 15th left. At that point, India’s concerns might have been compounded by the fact that they have a jelly middle order.
Ishan Kishan played the first match of his career ranked No. 5 in ODIs and Hardik Pandya never quite fit the role of a firefighter.
However, both Kishan and Pandya overcame their personal problems to collect 138 runs for the fifth wicket, the cornerstone of India’s final 266.
Kishan was particularly impressive as his strong point is a dashing top class batsman.
So there was a hint of doubt whether Kishan would be able to make the necessary adjustments to his batting and tackling to match number 5.
He excelled on both counts. A top-class batsman, Kishan was sensitive to pacers who could move the ball.
Instead of relying on his defense, Kishan’s method of getting out of the cage was aggressive. But here he had to be defensive.
Rauf, Afridi and Naseem Shah tested his fortitude, but for once Kishan showed that he can offer a scratch.
Nepal doesn’t have the quality of Pakistan but Kishan would like to try them and add some more runs under his belt to boost his new profile.
Similarly, management will also be pleased with the composure Pandya showed as he played second fiddle to Kishan, and with the seamless shifting done by the all-rounder after the southpaw’s dismissal.
Pandya’s adaptability and non-selfish methods would have pleased the think tank endlessly.
Even though the stuttering effort of their top four – Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer – against the Pakistan pacers could be considered an aberration, management would like them to be in ODI mode as soon as possible. come.
Rohit and Kohli were rested for the ODIs against the West Indies, while Shreyas Iyer makes his return from an injury layoff.
Nepal might just provide the trio with the perfect opposition to earn some valuable playing time and points.
However, the top team may be a little disappointed as the bowlers never got a chance to test their skills against a quality opponent in Pakistan.
They would have liked to see how Jasprit Bumrah reacted to the task of bowling 10 overs and handling the length of 50 overs.
His performance would be closely watched against Nepal, but the pace spearhead is unavailable for the match due to personal reasons.
Nepal, who lost to Pakistan by 238 runs in the opener of the tournament, would like to mask their lack of cricketing history with their enthusiasm.
Their biggest hopes of making an impact in the match are leg spinner Sandeep Lamichhane and captain Rohit Paudel.
But in the real world, they will be only too happy to minimize the damage against a cricketing powerhouse like India.
Teams (away): India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur , Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson (Travelling Reserve).
Nepal: Rohit Paudel (Captain), Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Bhim Sharki, Kushal Malla, Aarif Sheikh, Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi, Pratish GC, Mousom Dhakal, Sundeep Jora , Kishore Mahato, Arjun Saud.
The game kicks off at 3:00 PM IST.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published through a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article