India booked a place in the Super 4 of the Asia Cup after a 10-wicket win over Nepal in a rain-curtailed match in Pallekele. Rohit Sharma asked Nepal to bat after winning the toss, followed by an impressive display from Nepal but they were eventually bowled out for 230. A prolonged rain delay meant India had to chase a modest 145 in 23 overs, which they did without breaking a sweat on the back of the fifties from Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill.
A rain-curtailed affair in Pallekele left plenty to ponder for team India ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup which is hardly a month away. India’s pace bowling consisting of Mohd Siraj, Shardul Thakur, and Mohd Shami looked rusty and undercooked and leaked runs in the powerplay against inexperienced Nepal. Their fielding was substandard as fielders dropped catches and missed important stops in the outfield.
Nepal was put into bat after losing the toss, they showed signs of aggression in the opening offers and were aided in their effort by the Indian fielders who dropped both the openers inside two overs. Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh gave them a decent start in the powerplay, Bhurtel was adjudged LBW on the field before it was overturned by DRS. Shardul Thakur drew first blood by dismissing Kushal Bhurtel at the end of the powerplay breaking the opening partnership.
Rohit Sharma’s decision to introduce spin worked wonders as the scoring rate became sluggish as Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav limited the flow of runs. Jadeja ran through the middle order picking up 3 wickets and Kuldeep bowled frugal spells and finished with an economy rate of 3.4.
Nepal’s middle order could not negate Indian spinners and fell cheaply. Sompal Kami partnered with the tail and put up a fight with his 48 helping the team reach a respectable score of 230. An unconvincing performance from the Indian pace attack failed to control the flow of runs as Shardul Thakur and Mohd Siraj turned out to be a tinge expensive.
The Indian openers came out to bat and showed positive intent striking 3 boundaries in the second over, however, 15 balls into their innings it started drizzling steadily and the players had to go off the field. The prolonged rain intervention forced to resume the match with revised playing conditions with India needing 145 runs to win in 23 overs.
Indian openers did not give a chance to the Nepal to pose a fight as Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill scored towards all parts of the ground in tandem. Both the openers scored the fifties and comfortably took their team past the target with all 10 wickets to spare. Rohit Sharma was adjudged the Man of the Match for his stellar batting performance of 74*, but said that he felt unconvinced with his knock.
Not really (happy with the knock), some nerves to start with but once I got my eye in, I wanted to get the team home – Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma reiterated that the Asia Cup is not expected to give them a chance to find the right squad for the World Cup as they play only a few games. He said that there was a lot of work to be done with the bowling performance being average and fielding being substandard.
“When we came here we knew what our World Cup 15 is going to be like, the Asia Cup was not going to give us a better picture because it was only two games. But luckily we got to bat in the first game and bowl in this, so that made it a complete game for us” said Rohit Sharma.
The skipper felt that the team would get back into the groove once the injured players were back.
“Still have a lot to work on. A lot of guys coming back from injuries and they need time to get back into the groove. Hardik and Ishan were very good in the last game to get us to that score. The bowling was okay today but the fielding was bad, we need to improve on that” he added.