Asia Cup: India in final alright, but a few chinks show in the armour

The Asia Cup title is now India’s to lose (if it must) as the T20 World Cup champions kept their date with the final – thanks to two wins in the Super Four stage so far. One has to wait till this evening’s virtual semi-final between Pakistan and Bangladesh to find out who the Men in Blue will take on in the final.

They have now won five games in a row, including both the high stakes ones against Pakistan, but what may be of some concern for their fans is that the performance has shown some perceptible chinks in their armour. Add to that a degree of complacence – or arrogance, if you like – as they approach the last hurdle.

There is a saying in sport that the true depth of a champion shows when a team or individual can emerge winners even on an indifferent day. Riding high on an embarrassment of riches and winning streak, this Indian team under Suryakumar Yadav had been doing precisely that — but they should be wary of the odd moments of embarrassment during the campaign where two wins have come against associate members.

First up, the batting has been rather over reliant on the opening partnership of a red-hot Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill, the two friends since Under-19 World Cup days who are being called ‘fire and ice’ because of their contrasting approach to batting. Possibly the fastest to climb to ICC No.1 world ranking among T20I batters, Abhishek has hardly put a foot wrong in this tournament and became the first to log in 200-plus runs in the ongoing edition.

However, the top order wears a somewhat unsettled look even after five games, with the skipper failing to fire, barring the one league game against Pakistan. There has been far too many shuffling in the batting order which coach Gautam Gambhir may attribute to experimenting ahead of the T20 World Cup next year — but they have been baffling, to say the list.

Take the game against minnows Oman, for example — a match India won by 21 runs. There is nothing wrong in resting the stars to give those at the dugout a break but the batting line-up was turned on it’s head to see Surya walking in at 11 a.m. Then in a fairly important game against Bangladesh, Shivam Dube was promoted to No.3 while Sanju Samson did not come to bat despite India losing five wickets. One wonders if it’s fair on Samson, who has lost the opener’s slot for good with Gill’s re-entry in the T20 scheme of things.

Axar Patel was promoted ahead of Samson and finished with 10 runs of 15 balls. Dube did not bowl until the 18th over despite breaking Pakistan’s middle order in the previous game.

A total of 168 against Bangladesh on 24 September, Wednesday, looked somewhat below par when a 200 looked for the taking after the blazing start from the Gill–Sharma pair. Bangladesh were cruising, with Saif Hasan at the crease, till they lost the plot in the middle overs and succumbed to a late collapse against Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy. It was, however, extremely heartening to see Kuldeep toying with the rival batters as he became the first bowler to reach 30 wickets in the Asia Cup.

The other shortcoming is the rising number of dropped catches by India throughout the campaign — they dropped five alone against Bangladesh and 12 so far in the tournament, ahead of Hong Kong with 11. Speaking to the media later, Chakravarthy referred to the unique lighting system in Dubai, called the ‘Ring of Fire’ often coming in the way of grabbing skiiers.

The gulf of difference in the levels India and the other teams in the UAE now occupy is so palpable that India should be able to tide over any hiccups easily, though.

Meanwhile, the other thing India can refrain from is to publicly demean their opponents — yes, one is referring to Surya’s dig at Pakistan and his talk of the rivalry. It’s a job better left to former cricketers and TV pundits so that the team remains pressure-free to do their actual job!