Asia Cup | Final with Sri Lanka India’s chance to end non-bilateral title drought

For all their dominance of bilateral series at home and overseas in the two white-ball formats, India have been found wanting at the crunch. It can’t be stage-fright, because several men within this set-up have played big finals and come out on the right side of the result. In the absence of any tangible explanation, it might be tempting to put it down as just one of those things, but when they happen as frequently as in India’s case, that would appear a touch simplistic.

Final push remains elusive

It can’t be debated that India have been a consistent presence in the knockout stages of global tournaments for a long while now. Apart from the T20 World Cup in the UAE in 2021 when they failed to advance to the semifinals, they have kept their tryst with a potential shot at the title in every world event since the 2013 Champions Trophy, the last time they emerged triumphant. At T20 and 50-over World Cups, they have been in the semifinals or the final; they contested both finals of the World Test Championship, and yet the final push has remained elusive for a decade now.

That it’s been 10 years since a world title and five years now without a trophy might not be uppermost in the minds of Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid. Perhaps, the management team will raise an eyebrow when these stats regarding the extended drought are presented before them, but beyond that, they won’t be too fussed about this, simply because they can’t do anything about what has happened in the past. Their undivided attention for the immediate future will be on the final of the 16th Asia Cup, where they will run into familiar foes Sri Lanka on Sunday at the R Premadasa Stadium.

India’s experience vs Lanka’s youthful exuberance

Unlike against Bangladesh, India boast an excellent record against the Lankans in the last few years, but that will count for precious little, come Sunday. It will boil down to who executes their skills better over the 100 overs of the tournament that truly matter; whether it is the celebrated experience of India or the youthful exuberance of Sri Lanka that carries the night will depend on who is more desperate for success, and who makes the fewer mistakes under pressure.

India have been guilty of a fair few errors in this tournament, in all departments of the game, if they are honest to themselves. Catches have gone down aplenty, most notably in the encounters against Nepal in Pallekele and against Bangladesh on Friday night; Nepal weren’t experienced enough to cash in but Bangladesh punished India for their largesse by scoring a six-run victory to end India’s status as the only unbeaten team of the tournament. But as worrying as the trend of dropped catches is, the more alarming concern has been India’s approach against spin on pitches that have helped the slower bowlers.

Against Sri Lanka, once the ball started to turn and fizz and grip and bite, they subsided dramatically from 80 without loss in 11 overs to 213 all out. The Bangladesh game, for which India rang in the changes, was even more glaring for the struggles when confronted with the turning ball and the lack of pace off the surface. At no stage did India appear in control of a chase of 266 – it’s another matter that they shouldn’t have allowed Bangladesh to post 265 for eight after reducing them to 161 for six – and despite a near-superhuman effort from Shubman Gill, they were let down quite badly by the batting group.

India must be wary of….

One is not sure what kind of track will greet them in the final, but Sri Lanka have enough spin depth to trouble them at the first hint of help. India will breathe a sigh of relief that they won’t have to face Maheesh Theekshana, the mystery spinner who has been such a hit with Chennai Super Kings. Theekshana sustained a Grade 2 hamstring tear during the win against Pakistan and will watch the match from the sidelines, adding to pre-existing Sri Lankan woes caused by the unavailability throughout the tournament of their main bowlers Lahiru Kumara, Dushmantha Chameera and Wanindu Hasaranga. Theekshana will be a big miss, though it mustn’t be forgotten that in the first game between the sides, it was young Dunith Wellalage and the unheralded part-time off-spinner, Charith Asalanka, who had India dancing to their tunes.

India have their own injury concern in the form of Axar Patel. The left-arm-spinning all-rounder took numerous blows to his right hand in the Bangladesh game, injuries serious enough for Washington Sundar to be flown out as cover. Washington will be a handy asset with his off-spin and his classy left-handed batting, though he hasn’t played an ODI since January.

The Colombo weather has aided and abetted in ensuring the tournament winds to its logical conclusion. A little over 10 days back, a move to Hambantota to beat the rains was being seriously considered before Colombo retained the nod for various reasons. Since then, the weather has been reasonably kind. While the India-Pakistan game spilt over to the bizarrely put-together reserve day, the other matches were completed around the odd spell of interruption. The drastic reduction in the costs of tickets ensured big attendances for Sri Lanka’s matches against India and Pakistan, the latter a virtual semifinal, and a capacity crowd is expected for the big final with Sri Lanka certain to attract a greater share of support.

Ranked No. 2 in the world and packed with riches galore in batting and bowling, India should logically begin favourites on paper. But numerous chinks have surfaced to question that logic. Having won the T20 Asia Cup in the UAE last September, Dasun Shanaka’s men will be quietly confident of an encore. It’s up to India to come up with the goods if they want to prove that this is confidence misplaced.