Asia Cup debacle proves India need to play fearless cricket

Defending champions India were staring at an early exit from the Asia Cup after suffering a six-wicket loss to Sri Lanka in Dubai on Tuesday night. There was a sense of deja vu for the Indian fans as the Men in Blue came second best in a close contest for the second game running after Sunday's defeat to Pakistan in their opening Super 4 encounter.

Now just as in the Twenty20 World Cup held last year at the same venue, India are at the mercy of other teams to stay alive in the competition. A win for Pakistan over Afghanistan later tonight will seal India's fate.

The Asia Cup debacle has exposed India's inability to come good in pressure games in multi-nation tournaments. India had notched up series wins over New Zealand (3-0), West Indies (3-0) and Sri Lanka (3-0) at home, while getting the better of Ireland (2-0), England (2-1) and the West Indies (4-1) in away series after the group stage exit in the last T20 World Cup. The 2-2 result against South Africa at home in June was the lone series the Indians had failed to win during this period. Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid, who replaced Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri as captain and head coach respectively after the Dubai shocker, had made a conscious effort to adopt a more aggressive batting approach and it had paid rich dividends as India are at the top of the ICC rankings.

India had started off positively in the Asia Cup with wins over Pakistan and Hong Kong in the group stage. However, the Indians failed to capitalise on an excellent platform and ended up with 181/7 against Pakistan in the opening Super 4 encounter. Pakistan opener Mohammad Rizwan's 51-ball 71 and a superb cameo by Mohammed Nawaz (42 off 20) plus some silly mistakes at the death cost India dearly.

With the threat of another early exit looming, the Indians made a sedate start against the Lankans in the must-win tie. Despite opener K L Rahul and Virat Kohli falling cheaply, Rohit kept India afloat with a masterly 72 off 41 balls. However, just as in the Pakistan game, the Indians failed to finish strongly as they lost wickets in a heap.

Chasing 174, the Lankan openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis got their team off to a flier. But leggie Yuzvendra Chahal brought India back into the contest with his triple strikes as the Lankans slumped from 97/0 to 120/4 in quick time. However, captain Dasun Shanuka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa took the islanders home with an unbeaten 64-run stand off 34 deliveries.

Pressing the panic button

There were clear signs that the Indians panicked at the crunch. Rookie Arshdeep Singh dropped a dolly against Pakistan, the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled a couple of wides each against Pakistan and Lanka in the 19th over while wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant failed to hit the target from behind the stumps in the final over against Lanka.

With just less than seven weeks left for India's opening T20 World Cup match against Pakistan (October 23), this poor show has set the alarm bells ringing. The absence of all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja clearly upsets the team balance. There is no point in playing Deepak Hooda if Rohit has no trust in his bowling abilities. Rahul looks woefully out of touch, while the defeats exposed that depending on Hardik Pandya as specialist seamer could boomerang in the big games. Pant is yet to sort out how to go about as a T20I middle order batter and the Indians will be better off playing him at the top of the order.

A few positives

There were still some positive signs for the Indians. Kohli showed flashes of coming back to his best, Arshdeep bowled his heart out at the death, and Chahal bounced back after going for plenty against Pakistan. India sorely missed Jasprit Bumrah and the pace spearhead’s return for the showpiece event should bolster the bowling.

The Asia Cup fiasco will lessen the expectations and the fans will not be surprised if India fail to make it to the semifinals from the Super 12 Group 2 which includes Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh and a couple of qualifiers. A tensed Dravid in the dugout evokes memories of India's early ouster from the 2007 ODI World Cup.

However, the Indian supporters can take solace in the fact that a young team under M S Dhoni triumphed in the inaugural T20 World Cup later in the same year by playing fearless cricket. That's the only way forward for Team India. Mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton has his work cut out as the Indian players seem to fear the worst in a pressure situation. The onus is on the Indian players, especially senior pros Rohit, Kohli and Rahul to deliver at the crunch and shed the chokers tag.

Also the selectors and team management need to look at developing a team with T20 specialists. They had a chance to do it after the last edition, but they retained the core group. Another failure Down Under will force the selectors to go for an overhaul in the shortest format and it won’t be a bad idea for sure.