It was deja vu for India as for the second time in three days, they lost a game on the second-last ball in the Asia Cup, this time against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, September 7. Once again, Arshdeep Singh had just seven runs to play with and yet he took the game to the penultimate delivery.
Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka missed the delivery and started taking a run. Rishabh Pant collected the ball, took aim, and missed the run-out despite all three stumps being visible and the non-striker Bhanuka Rajapaksa not even in the frame.
Arshdeep threw the ball to the non-striker's end and missed as well, allowing the batters to take a comfortable two and win the game. The Men in Blue were in shock as they are now on the brink of being knocked out of the Asia Cup.
Fans on Twitter were furious about a number of factors, like the team management ignoring Dinesh Karthik for Deepak Hooda and then not using the latter's bowling. Even Pant was trolled as he failed to hit the stumps. Bhuvneshwar Kumar also failed to deliver for the second game in a row, conceding 15 runs in the 19th over.
Here are some of the reactions:
Team India have plenty to reflect on going ahead
Team India's ultra-aggressive batting approach has cost them two games in a row as they haven't had enough batting left at the death. The likes of Dinesh Karthik will be gutted to miss out as those in his place haven't delivered once again.
This Asia Cup debacle has also raised questions on whether the team even knows their best XI. With the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel injured, the depth in Indian cricket that was bragged about, failed to deliver.
The Men in Blue will now need to hope that Pakistan lose both their games to have an outside chance of qualifying for the final.
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