Both the matches that India have played thus far in the Asia Cup have been heavily affected by rain.
The Asia Cup has been seen by all participating teams as a way to get some match practice for the World Cup, apart from being an important tournament in the calendar. With none of the teams having announced their respective squads for the World Cup, this would also be seen as a way to narrow down to a list of 15 players who would travel to India for the marquee tournament.
However, India haven’t really had a chance to take a good look at their players in the two games they have played thus far, both of which were heavily affected by rain. With the team set to announce their squad on Tuesday, India captain Rohit Sharma had said that the management had anticipated a situation like this and had a good idea of what their squad would look like even before the start of the Asia Cup.
“When we came here we knew what our World Cup 15 is going to be like. We can’t really look too much into these two (Asia Cup) games, one was washed out, but luckily we got to bat in the first game and bowl in this one. We haven’t been at our best, but a few guys are coming out after months out of the game. Once we move ahead in the Super Fours, there’s no room for complacency,” said Rohit after India beat Nepal in their second group game on Monday.
Tests for batters and bowlers.
India were handed a stern test in the first match of the tournament against arch-rivals Pakistan. They batted first and ended up losing three wickets in the first 10 overs to a dominant Pakistan pace attack. They were eventually tottering at 66/4 in 14.1 overs before Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya powered a remarkable recovery. The pair put up 138 runs off 141 balls for the fifth wicket. A late surge led by Jasprit Bumrah, who scored 16 in 14 balls helped India reach a total of 266. However, the Pakistan chase never happened with rain taking over for the rest of the day.
Against Nepal, India bowled first. Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj took three wickets but a spirited Nepal recovered to score 230 runs. the Indian innings had to be reduced to a 23-over affair due to rain and their target was revised to 147. They chased it down without losing a wicket, with Rohit scoring 74 in 59 balls and Shubman Gill scoring 67 in 62.