India’s Asia Cup debacle and boxes they must tick before T20 World Cup

Before the start of the Asia Cup 2022, India were considered to be favourites to win the title. Many of the former cricketers were of the opinion that the India-Pakistan final will be on cards. India have been a dominant force in the tournament so far winning seven trophies so far. Also, they entered the tournament after winning the away series against England and West Indies. However, things went horribly wrong for India in the ongoing edition as they were knocked out of the super four stages.

Ravindra Jadeja’s knee injury was the biggest setback for the team and that hampered them the most. But, the team selection after that was quite difficult to understand from captain Rohit Sharma. Jadeja’s absence hurt the balance of the team and that put team in trouble. Axar Patel was called in as his replacement but didn’t get an opportunity in playing XI. Team management backed Rishabh Pant to counter spin in middle overs but he wasn’t convincing against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Pant has been consistently backed by the team management but hasn’t been able to live up to his potential in white-ball. He has scored just 934 runs in 51 T20I innings at 23.95 and a strike rate of 126.39. He managed to score only 14 and 17 in the crucial matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively. 

Karthik has been phenomenal in the lower order for India since IPL 2022. He was supposed to perform the finishing role for India but this strange selection casts doubt over Karthik’s role in the World Cup. Karthik has scored 182 runs from 10 T20I innings at 45.50 and a strike rate of 165.45. His finishing duties have been phenomenal and so there is no reason to bench him from the squad. The only solution to Ravindra Jadeja’s unavailability would have been to bring in Axar Patel as a like-for-like replacement. Axar will provide a bowling option and so the team will have six bowlers on their side. Also, he has shown his batting skills and will add depth to the batting unit. 

Pant hasn’t been impressive in white-ball cricket and so preferring Dinesh Karthik over him might be the way going forward. Karthik doesn’t have much fuel in his tank and might hand his boots in coming years but is at his finishing best currently. So, playing Axar in place of Jadeja and preferring Karthik over Pant might be the best bet. 

The Asia Cup debacle also exposed the vulnerabilities in the bowling department. Nothing hurt the Indian team more than Jasprit Bumrah’s injury. They played the first few games with the pace trio of Avesh Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Arshdeep Singh. However, when Avesh was ruled out, Hardik Pandya was the third seamer for the Indian team in matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. These two matches have shown that Hardik cannot be used as a four-over bowler in each game. He managed to pick just a single wicket and also conceded runs. 

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was superb with the new ball in all matches but his bowling in death overs faltered against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. He conceded too many runs in death overs in crunch situations and that displayed the need for Jasprit Bumrah in this line-up. He is not very rapid and the lack of swing on offer in Australia might be troublesome for Bhuvneshwar unless he makes some changes to his bowling before flying to Australia.

Overall, there are many things to work for the Indian team with less time for T20 World Cup but the biggest hole can be caused if Jadeja doesn’t play in the tournament. Axar Patel should take his place in that case and also KL Rahul needs to pace his innings at a better strike rate in upcoming games or else India can opt for another opening combination.