All hopes of India making it to the finals of Asia Cup 2022 crashed as Pakistan defeated Afghanistan in their latest match held at Sharjah stadium in Dubai.
India defeated Pakistan and Hong Kong in the first two matches. However, in the Super FOur League stage, India lost against Pakistan and Sri Lanka consecutively. In today’s match, with Pakistan winning against Afghanisthan all the doors have been shut for the Men in Blue.
Pakistan was chasing 130 runs but didn’t have the best start since Babr Azam lost his wicket in the first over to Fazalhaq Farooqi. Farooqi also dismissed Mohammad Nawaz and Khushdil Shah in the 18th over while giving just three runs. Fareed picked the essential wicket of Asif Ali but Pakistan reached 87/3 to 118/9.
Pakistan needed 11 runs in the final over, when Naseem Shah hit two consecutive sixes in the first two balls to seal the victory.
The result meant that India and Afghanistan are out of the Asia Cup race for this edition. With four points, the Men in Green and Sri Lanka will be facing each other for the title clash held on September 11.
This was India’s first defeat in the Asia Cup since 2014. The team won the inaugural season under MS Dhoni’s captaincy in 2016 in Bangladesh. Later in 2018,under Rohit Sharma’s leadership, the men in Blue lifted the Cup winning every match of the edition.
India has won 18 games out 25 in the T20I format this year, which is the highest in any calendar year. India has two home series against Australia andSouth Africa before the T20 World Cup starts in October 2022.
India’s failure in the tournament, this edition has raised a lot of questions regarding the future of Indian cricket.
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