Highlights
India and Nepal will meet in the Asia Cup
India’s top-three failed against Pakistan
New Delhi. Team India made a lot of preparations for the Asia Cup. A 6-day camp was also organized in Bangalore. An army of net bowlers was brought in. Batsmen like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shubman were fully prepared to face Pakistan’s ‘falcon’ i.e. Shaheen Shah Afridi. The Indian top-order batsmen worked hard against the left-arm bowlers, but their preparation failed in the real test against Pakistan. Shaheen Afridi beat Rohit-Virat very easily. It was fortunate that Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya came into the middle order to take charge of the Indian innings and counter-attack to take Pakistan to a respectable score for India, otherwise things would have been different.
Team India’s biggest strength is the top-three. Meaning Rohit, Virat and Shubman. Recent form has also been good for all players. But, this top-three proved ineffective against Pakistan and Team India’s greatest strength proved to be its weakness. The way India’s top order collapsed against Pakistan’s pace battery shows how much power lies in their claims to win the Asia Cup. The World Cup is still a long way off.
India’s preparation against Pakistan remained on hold
In the match against Pakistan, Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first and the top-4 batsmen returned to the pavilion on a score of 66 runs. Captain Rohit Sharma (11), Virat Kohli (4), Shubman Gill (10) and Shreyas Iyer (14) could only score runs. A lot of preparation was done before the tournament. A complete plan was devised to counter the left-arm bowlers. There were talks of changing the roles of the players as per the need but nothing like that was seen against Pakistan. India suffered from this and great warriors were quickly killed.
Answers to questions against Nepal have to be found
Now India has to fight with Nepal. In such a situation, the biggest question facing Team India is batting. The Indian team management will have to decide whether Ishan Kishan will be given a chance to test the left-right arm combination in the top order or Rohit and Gill will open the batting. Apart from this, there is also a question whether the Indian team management is completely clear about the role of the players. Team India will have to find the answer to all these questions in the match against Nepal.
,
Tags: Asia Cup, India Vs Pakistan, Nepal, Rohit Sharma, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Virat Kohli
First published: September 04, 2023, 07:47 IST