Asia Cup 2022: 3 major takeaways for India
After a slew of experiments, India played with a more or less settled team combination at the Asia Cup. However, they could not make it to the final and there are apparent problems with the current team selection process that need filtering out.
One of the major factors in Dubai has been the toss and India lost in all their matches in the Super 4s and had to bat first.
They were good with the bat in the first innings, but conditions were easier as both Pakistan and Sri Lanka chased down the total.
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The other issues that cropped up in the Asia Cup were the lack of form for the middle order as well as consistency in the death overs. When the selectors chalk out a combination for the T20 World Cup, they should glance a look at the takeaways from the Asia Cup.
Here we take a look at three takeaways for India from the Asia Cup:
#3 Hardik Pandya is not the third seamer
Hardik Pandya was in roaring form with the ball in India's first match against Pakistan. His short-ball caused a lot of problems for Pakistan and was excellent for Rohit Sharma as the fourth seamer. When Avesh Khan was unavailable, Hardik had to step up as the third seamer, but it did not work out well for the side.
Hardik was expensive as he returned with figures of 8-0-79-1 against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India were unable to defend scores of 181 and 173 against the same two teams. Deepak Chahar played in the final game against Afghanistan, but India will need to figure out Hardik's role as a bowler in Australia.
#2 How much will India miss Ravindra Jadeja?
India have been dealt a huge blow with the injury to Ravindra Jadeja. He showed his worth in the first match against Pakistan as a batter. Over the last year and a half, India have groomed Axar Patel as Jadeja's replacement in all the three formats and yet when Jadeja was injured, they preferred Deepak Hooda.
The Baroda man did not bowl and never got any real opportunity to showcase his skills as a batter as well. What this also meant was that they had to play Rishabh Pant as the left-hander in the top six and Dinesh Karthik had to sit out.
Despite being a phenomenon in Test cricket, Pant has not cracked a code in T20Is and he had an underwhelming tournament with the bat, making scores of 14, 17 and 20* in the three matches that he played.
This question needs to be answered and trusting Axar as a batter could be the way forward.
#1 India maintains their aggressive template in T20Is
India had their problems in the middle order as they were unable to cash in on the platforms provided in the Super 4s. However, the side stuck to their newly-adopted template in T20Is. Rohit was at his best against Sri Lanka when he slammed a 41-ball 72. KL Rahul struggled to get going early in the tournament, but he too found his fluency against Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Virat Kohli ended his century drought with this approach and if there were concerns with the top order coming into this Asia Cup, the experienced players have settled their nerves. Suryakumar Yadav is the man in form and will hold a key in Australia. The role of the anchor has been discarded by India and this Asia Cup underlined this once more.
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'UNREAL' 👏
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However, how the middle order copes against setbacks and how long they continue to be aggressive in their approach in the middle-overs will define India's campaign in Australia later this year.