India’s catching has been a huge letdown in this Asia Cup. Here Sanju Samson drops Bangladesh opener Saif Hassan.
| Photo Credit: AP
India’s final game of the Asia Cup’s group stage, against Oman in Abu Dhabi, was inconsequential. India’s final game of the Super Four phase, against Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday, will also be inconsequential. It is simply because the eight-time champion has been a cut above its opponents and serenely secured passage to the subsequent stages. By the time Suryakumar Yadav and Co. had to face first-time participant Oman, qualification for the Super Four had already been sealed. Now when they take on the Lankans, it is with the knowledge that a place in Sunday’s title showdown is confirmed.
That India, which won last year’s T20 World Cup, has reached the final without quite being at its scintillating best is evidence of the gulf with the rest of the teams in the continent. Although there were anxious moments with the bat against Bangladesh once Abhishek Sharma departed after a sparkling 75, India was still able to close out a fairly convincing 41-run victory.
With an eye on next year’s T20 World Cup, the option of rotating a few players and further testing the bench strength before the final is available to the Indian team management. But given the short turnaround between the fixture against Charith Asalanka’s outfit and the summit clash, the focus may be more on ironing out some flaws and producing a near-perfect performance. Among the areas meriting urgent attention is the unusually high number of catches that have been spurned in the last two matches.
Having spilled at least four chances in Sunday’s clash against Pakistan, India was arguably worse against Bangladesh with as many as five catches going down. Spinner Varun Chakaravarthy, who suffered twice in one over, alluded to the poor catching afterwards. “We can’t give excuses at this level. As a team, we should be taking these catches. We have to pick up our fielding,” he said.
India, which did not train on Thursday, will also want its middle-order to step up. In the Super Four stage, the heavy lifting has been done by openers Abhishek and Shubman Gill with partnerships of 105 and 77. The stress on flexibility in the batting department hasn’t helped Sanju Samson get a consistent run at one position. Having slid down from the opening slot at the start of this tournament, he appeared scratchy even during his half-century versus Oman. The wicketkeeper-batter went curiously unused at No. 8 against Bangladesh on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka, of course, will be heading home after Friday’s game. While its campaign began promisingly with wins over Afghanistan and Bangladesh to top Group-B, the six-time continental champion has stumbled at a critical juncture with consecutive defeats to Bangladesh and Pakistan. In the loss to Salman Agha’s men, a total of 133 for eight was simply not enough to force a favourable result.
The upside is that there are five months between now and the T20 World Cup for the Lankans to get their act together. A win against India, never mind in an inconsequential game, won’t be a bad place to start.
The teams (from): India: Suryakumar Yadav (Capt.), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.
Sri Lanka: Charith Asalanka (Capt.), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kusal Perera (wk), Dasun Shanaka, Kamindu Mendis, Kamil Mishara, Nuwanidu Fernando, Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Janith Liyanage, Matheesha Pathirana, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Nuwan Thushara, Binura Fernando, Dushmantha Chameera.
Match starts at 8 p.m. IST
Published – September 25, 2025 05:53 pm IST
