Asia Cup 2022: Sri Lanka beat India by 6 wickets in Super 4 clash

A rejuvenated Sri Lanka firmly pushed the Indian cricket team towards the exit door with a six-wicket victory in their Asia Cup Super Four match in Dubai on Tuesday. This is India's 2nd successive defeat in the Super 4 stage and it puts the Rohit Sharma-led side in serious danger of losing out on a semi-final berth.

Captain Rohit Sharma's valiant 72-run knock went in vain as the Dasun Shanaka-led side chased down the 174-run target to seal their second successive win in the Super 4 stage. Sri Lanka exposed the Indian team's inadequacies, mostly poor mindset and atrocious shot selection, something that was exploited to the hilt by Pakistan just two days back.

Now India have to wait for other results to go their way to qualify for the final of the Asia Cup. India would be hoping that either Sri Lanka or Pakistan go on to win all their remaining matches and they beat Afghanistan on Thursday. Net Run Rate will once again come into play to decide the tie-break.

Earlier, Captain Rohit Sharma led from the front and smashed a scintillating 41-ball 72 as India settled for 173 for eight against Sri Lanka in their Asia Cup Super Four match. Rohit's innings came at a time when India was pushed back in the game by Sri Lanka's bowling attack, who



got two early wickets in the powerplay.

India got off to a terrible start in the powerplay as Maheesh Theekshana cleaned up KL Rahul with a low full toss, while Dilshan Madushanka bowled Virat Kohli in the third over of the match. Rohit then hit five fours and four sixes during his entertaining knock and was well supported by Suryakumar Yadav (34 off 29 balls) during a stand of 97 runs for the third wicket. However, Rohit's dismissal triggered a slide as India added 63 runs after being 110 for three in the 13th over when the skipper got out.

Soon after, Suryakumar was caught out by captain Dasun Shanaka for 34 runs from 28 balls. He was caught by Theekshana at short third man. India were 119/4. Rishabh Pant was next at the crease, who got off the mark with a brilliant boundary over deep midwicket and followed with another to end the 15th over. At the end of 15 overs, India were 127/4, with Pant (8*) and Hardik (4*).

Pant-Pandya kept the scoreboard ticking for India with some occasional big hits and a strike rotation. Shanaka dismissed Pandya for 17 off 13 balls and India suffered its fifth blow at 149 runs. Deepak Hooda was next on the crease. His stay at the crease did not last long as he was clean bowled by Madushanka for 3 off 4 balls.