Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh seemed furious at India’s squad selection for the Asia Cup 2022 after Rohit Sharma & Co suffered a second straight defeat in Super 4. On Tuesday, Sri Lanka showcased an exhilarating performance across departments to stun the defending champions. The island nation registered a 6-wicket win while chasing 174, retaining the top spot on the points table. On the other hand, the second loss on the trot has put India’s final qualification in jeopardy.
Team India’s bowling in the ongoing tournament has been under the scanner since their second face-off against Hong Kong. Further, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja getting ruled out due to a knee injury has certainly added to the woes of Men in Blue. The lack of experienced resources made the team pay a huge price in the past two encounters and now, their fate in the tournament hangs by a very fine thread.
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Following the loss against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, Harbhajan took to Twitter and questioned the selection of the Indian team. He asked why the likes of Umran Malik and Deepak Chahar aren’t there in the team. He was also disappointed over Dinesh Karthik not getting chances consistently.
“Where is Umran malik (150km speed) ? Why Deepak chahar (top quality swing bowler )wasn’t there ? Tell me if these guys don’t deserve the chances ?? Why Dinesh Karthik don’t get chances consistently?? Disappointing,” Harbhajan tweeted.
Where is Umran malik (150km speed) ? Why Deepak chahar (top quality swing bowler )wasn’t there ? Tell me if these guys don’t deserve the chances ?? Why Dinesh Karthik don’t get chances consistently?? Disappointing
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) September 6, 2022
India are on the verge of getting eliminated from the Asia Cup 2022 following the loss against Sri Lanka. However, captain Rohit Sharma said there are no long-term worries as they were experimenting with three seamers in view of the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Rohit said the back-to-back losses in the Asia Cup will teach the team how to find answers before the ICC event in October-November.
“I was happy with three seamers. Unfortunately, Avesh hasn’t turned up well in the fitness tests. He didn’t respond well because he was quite sick. Ideally, the combination we would play is four seamers, but three seamers were something we wanted to try before the World Cup,” Rohit said.
India’s chances are now dependent on the results of the remaining games. They need to defeat Afghanistan in their next encounter and that too with a bigger margin. If Pakistan gets beaten by Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, that would be the only way for India to make it to the final.
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