5 reasons why seven-time champion India failed to qualify for Asia Cup final

Seven-time champion India has been eliminated from the Asia Cup 2022 after Pakistan’s thrilling last-over victory over Afghanistan in Sharjah on Wednesday night (September 7).

When India arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the team was the favourite to lift the trophy. And it was a good beginning too after beating Pakistan in Dubai. However, the Rohit Sharma-led team suffered two successive losses in the Super Four stage that put paid to its chances of making Sunday’s title clash.

What went wrong for Team India and why did the defending champion fail to qualify for the final? Here are five reasons.

Also read: Asia Cup: Loss to Sri Lanka a wake-up call for India ahead of T20 World Cup

Wrong team selections

When India began its Asia Cup defence against Pakistan on August 28, the team management picked the experienced Dinesh Karthik ahead of Rishabh Pant. Karthik retained his spot for the second league game against Hong Kong while Pant too was called back into the Playing XI. However, Karthik got to play only one ball against Pakistan and did not bat versus Hong Kong. And for the crucial Super Four contests against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, he was dropped, and Pant flopped scoring just 14 and 17. Karthik was in form and the team management should have stuck with him instead of Pant. Besides this, Deepak Hooda at No. 7 in the Super Four stage was a big mistake as he managed only 16 and 3.

Injuries to key players

Ahead of the Asia Cup, India was dealt a huge blow as pacemen Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel were ruled out of the tournament due to injuries. And during the tournament, Avesh Khan got injured. This depleted the fast bowling department. Adding to this was the injury to all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. Axar Patel and Deepak Chahar were named as replacements.

Rahul’s lack of runs

Vice-captain KL Rahul began the tournament with a duck against Pakistan and later had scores of 36, 28, and 6. The right-hander’s form was a big worry for India. If captain Rohit and Rahul give the team a good start then half the job is done. However, with Rahul’s repeated failures, the team could not get off to a flier barring in one match when the duo put on a half-century partnership against Pakistan in the Super Four stage. In four innings, Rahul managed just 70 runs. In a T20 contest, it is important to make the most of the six overs of Powerplay at the start of the innings.

Also read: India stutter with both bat and ball in 2nd half as resilient Pak prevail in last over

Bhuvneshwar’s death bowling

Paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar was impressive at the start of the innings but lacked the same discipline in the end overs. He was entrusted to bowl the 19th overs against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super Four phase and in both contests he could not deliver. When Pakistan needed 26 off 12, Bhuvneshwar leaked 19 runs and Arshdeep had only seven to defend in the final over. In the next game against Sri Lanka, the equation was 21 off 12 and Bhuvneshwar went for 14 runs and same situation was witnessed with Arshdeep having only seven runs to defend.

Inconsistent batters

Barring Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit, none of the other Indian batters could make an impact during the tournament. The Indian middle order was inconsistent. Kohli was India’s top scorer with 154 runs (two fifties) from four innings followed by Rohit and Yadav who both had 133 runs apiece.

In its last Super Four game today (September 8), India plays Afghanistan. The next target for India is the T20 World Cup in Australia.