Sri Lanka defeated India by 6 wickets in the Super 4 match at the Dubai International Stadium

Sri Lanka chased down a target of 174 with one ball to spare, and this win moved Sri Lanka to the top of the table.

Kusal Mendis, Nissanka, and Shanaka made valuable contributions for Sri Lanka

Kusal Mendis top-scored with 57 while his opening partner Pathum Nissanka and Dasun Shanaka contributed 52 and 33 not out.

For India, Yuzvendra Chahal took three wickets for 34 runs while Ravichandran Ashwin got one

India will need Pakistan to lose both of their remaining matches to have a slim chance of qualifying.

Chamika Karunaratne (2/27) and Dasun Shanaka (2/26) were the main wicket takers, India’s top order scored poorly.

Rohit Sharma top-scored with a 72 off 41 balls while Suryakumar Yadav contributed 34 as India posted 173 for eight after being to bat first.

Team India on brink of elimination from Asia Cup 2022

This defeat took India to the brink of elimination from the Asia Cup 2022.

Captain Rohit Sharma says the atmosphere in the group is upbeat and he is confident about the team’s performance going forward.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong, it looks like it from the outside, but we don’t look at it that way,” Rohit said. “I’ve been at many press conferences, and when you lose such questions will be asked. It’s normal. But as far as the team is concerned you can go in [the dressing room] and see, that all the boys are relaxed and chilled. We need to have such an atmosphere whether you win or lose.”

“We’ve worked hard to make the team atmosphere that way and all the boys are happy about it. If the dressing room mood is good, eventually the performances you see will happen on the ground. Before the World Cup, it’s important for us to keep the atmosphere good and not judge the boys by wins or losses, performances, and non-performances. Because whoever is here, they’re all good. That thought we need to be consistent with.”

Rohit was also crystal clear “90-95% of the team was settled” and that their quest to try out different things had one result in mind: finding their best XI.

Rohit Sharma talks about the sixth bowling option against Sri Lanka

“Yes, we have the sixth bowling option, but we also wanted to try out with five options and see what happens and what doesn’t happen,” he explained. “Today Hooda was there, but both their right-handers [openers] were set, and I didn’t think I could bring him on then because we were looking to take wickets through our attacking spinners Ashwin and [Yuzvendra] Chahal,” Sharma said

“Yes, if we got early wickets, I wanted to bowl Hooda, he was in my plan. But yes, six options is always nice. When we play the World Cup it will be at the back of our mind to play with six options.” Rohit said

Rohit Sharma explained the decision to pick Rishabh Pant ahead of Dinesh Karthik against Sri Lanka

“See, it is simple. We wanted a left-hander to bat in the middle,” Rohit said. “That’s why Dinesh Karthik is out. Not because of form or anything. We wanted a left-hand batter in the middle to take pressure off, but it didn’t happen. But by no means DK has been dropped because of poor form. We always want to have flexibility in the group. We will keep changing players every now and then depending on the opposition. Four-five batters will play, but there will always be those one-two changes in the batting.”