India face Sri Lanka in a must-win encounter in the Asia Cup

In a tournament as short as the Asia Cup, one defeat can be a telling blow to anyone’s aspirations and despite starting the tournament on a high, Team India is feeling the pressure after their maiden defeat in the latest edition of the tournament which came against their arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday. The departure of Ravindra Jadeja due to injury created quite a few ripples in the Indian side given the workload that the southpaw was used to taking but the current depth that Team India has should be sufficient to plug the void left by the all-rounder.

This is a must-win contest for Team India as they take on Sri Lanka who have been in fine touch in the last couple of games where they thumped Bangladesh after a high-octane thriller and in a high-scoring encounter got the better of Afghanistan to start their Group 4 fixtures with an emphatic win. Despite a couple of leaky bowling performances from the Lions, their batters have been in scintillating touch that has seen them chase down ginormous targets conveniently. 

India, on the contrary, will be happy to see Virat Kohli in a rich vein of form where he is in the second position among the list of leading run-scorers for the tournament. Rohit and Rahul provided Team India the much-needed start and Virat played along pretty well against Pakistan but the lack of support from the middle-order will be of bother for the Indians. Suryakumar Yadav will continue to be the firepower in the middle but he will need proper support from Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik if India has to go big against the resurgent Lankans.

Venue Watch:

Sunday gave us a glimpse of the belter of a track that Dubai has produced for the batters and there's no reason to expect there to be much change in the proceedings. With two batting units that have produced 175+ scores in their respective games prior to Tuesday's tussle, the game between the two neighboring Asian teams could well turn out to be another high-scoring thriller.

Battles to watch out for:

Virat Kohli vs Wanindu Hasarnga: 

The two Royal Challengers will be up against each other in a fierce battle of willow and leather that has seen both of them producing significant numbers in the ongoing tournament. Virat’s return to form has seen him bringing out strokes that felt non-existent over the span of the last two years while Hasaranga has matured emphatically in the last one year with a special stint that he stitched in IPL. More importantly, he is very quick in the air, that makes it difficult for a batter to play him, especially if you are not confident of your strokes and this is exactly why Virat Kohli becomes India’s best bet to face the Lankan leggie.

Rohit Sharma vs Maheesh Theeksana: 

Sharma has struggled in recent times to get a big knock going which can be a direct consequence of India’s new approach in the shortest format of the game. However, his approach of going hard in the powerplay has bore emphatic fruits for the Men in Blue. Theeksana, on the contrary, was RCB’s tormentor-in-chief for CSK and has some impressive variations up his sleeve. Given Sharma’s inclination to carry the carnage with the same momentum from the powerplay itself, once the slower bowlers come into action, he has shown vulnerability which can be a major talking point about this rivalry.

Hardik Pandya vs Dasun Shanaka: 

The two all-rounders have been in fine shape throughout the tournament and despite Pandya’s rare fiasco against Pakistan in the last game, it is needless to say that he is in the midst of some imperious form, both with the bat and the ball while Shanaka has terrorized Afghanistan and Bangladesh in a similar fashion. As both teams joust for supremacy in Dubai, this will be another important chapter of the Indo-Lankan cricket rivalry.

Squads:

India:

Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.

Sri Lanka:

Dasun Shanaka (c), Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Ashen Bandara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Praveen Jayawickrama, Chamika Karunaratne, Dilshan Madushanka, Matheesha Pathirana, Nuwanidu Fernando, Dushmantha Chameera, Dinesh Chandimal.

Match Details:

India vs Sri Lanka

Dubai International Stadium

6th September 2022 7:30 PM