The fierce Indian team is appearing in an Asia Cup encounter against Dasun Shanaka-led Sri Lanka. The Dubai International Stadium of the United Arab Emirates is being assigned to host the much-important contest. The game officially kicked off at 7:30 PM Indian Time with a packed crowd.
Winning the toss, The hosts Sri Lanka forced the Indian team to bat first and it was certainly a correct call. India suffered a couple of early blows but captain Rohit Sharma came up with a counter-attacking knock of 70 runs. The star-stubbed batting line-up eventually bundled out on a total of 173, handing over the advantage to the hosts.
The onus as well as the pressure is now on the Indian bowlers in the must-win match. The Sri Lankan batters will indeed fancy their chances of chasing down the total against the relatively inexperienced Indian bowling attack. The surface conditions at the venue tend to assist the team in batting in the second innings. The Indian fans will desperately hope that bowlers step up and hold their nerves in the do-or-die encounter.
Rishabh Pant’s skeptic reaction:
Meanwhile, The Indian wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant caught some eyeballs during the first innings of the match. The left-hander was seen showing an unpleasant reaction when the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma indicated Hardik Pandya to enter the field for batting ahead of him.
Pant has been India’s bankable No. 5 batsman in T20 Internationals over the last couple of years. The 24-year-old certainly did not seem to be impressed by the demotion in the batting order and he made it visible. The fans find the gesture by the wicket-keeper to be amusing while Hardik Pandya did not notice it.
Both Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant are India’s prominent finishing batsmen. They got off to explosive starts but failed to make it count once again (scored 17 runs each). Their inability to stay a bit longer at the crease hampered India’s chances to register a bigger total.
Watch the video:
https://twitter.com/ArmsIong/status/1567170048888049665?t=wpcb7Vt52Snfj_j8k826Og&s=19
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