India fell short by five wickets in the Super-4 Asia Cup 2022 clash against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday. The Indians are in a must-win situation in the remaining two games. Here are the reasons why India came up short.
On Sunday, arch-rivals India and Pakistan clashed for the second time in the 2022 Asia Cup. While India trumped by five wickets in the opening tie in the group stage in the Dubai International Stadium, the Super-4 encounter on Sunday at the same venue saw Pakistan triumph by the same margin. Both teams still have a chance to meet in the final scheduled next Sunday at the same ground. However, both sides have some work to do before reaching the final. In the meantime, we analyse why the Men in Blue came up short.
India's middle-over struggles with the bat
India is continuing with its aggressive intent in the Powerplay (PP) phase, getting off to a good start. However, it tends to lose wickets in the middle overs, thus slowing down its pace of scoring runs. While it maintained a run rate of over 10.00, it came down to 8.80 in the final ten overs.
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Mohammad Nawaz's promotion stuns India
To a surprise, Pakistan promoted Mohammad Naw az to number four, taking India off guard. He came up with attacking intent, playing a knock of 20-ball 42, which included six fours and a couple of sixes at a strike rate of 210.00. He scored his initial 22 off nine deliveries at 244.44 and became the driving force in the victory.
Pakistani spinners more effective than Indians
As Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul gave India a strong start, the duo hammered the Pakistani pacers before the spinners managed to subdue their scoring rate and deliver regular breakthroughs. Leg-spinner Shadab Khan was the most effective of all. In comparison, Indian spinners Ravi Bishnoi and Yuzvendra Chahal came up with an economy of over 8.00, derailing India's winning chances.