The defeat to Pakistan has left India in a must-win situation in their remaining Super Four games if they are to keep alive their prospects of reaching the Asia Cup final. The five-wicket loss to their arch-rivals in Dubai on Sunday has raised a few concerns that need to be addressed going into the two games against Sri Lanka on Tuesday followed by the clash versus Afghanistan on Thursday.
From the T20 World Cup point of view, India still have a little bit of time as well as matches ahead at their disposal to address those concerns going into the showpiece event in Australia.
The likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel are also likely to be back by then to strengthen their bowling attack. But from this Asia Cup’s perspective, there are a few tricky calls that captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid will have to make for their next two matches at the Dubai International Stadium.
Agreed, conditions in Dubai get easier for batters in the second half, but it was quite baffling to see all three seniors of India’s bowling attack (Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Hardik Pandya) leaking runs against Pakistan and unable to create any sort of pressure on the rival batsmen.
That doesn’t augur well for the team. To be fair to Pandya, though, it’s humanly not possible for him to keep delivering with both bat and ball in every game. But precisely, it was leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi and left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh who both bowled with a lot of heart to keep India in the game till the deciding over.
Both the youngsters need to be backed also for their temperament while bowling in high-pressure situations. With the Dubai pitch getting easier for strokeplay, whether a third specialist seamer will at all be needed is another aspect which India have to think about.
Leg-spinner Chahal’s bowling, too, has lacked teeth so far in the competition. Will India bring in left-arm spinner all-rounder Axar Patel or senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in Chahal’s place? A word or two also needs to be said to wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, whose tendency to play a silly shot in a crucial phase continues in spite of all the experience he has gained.