In a must-win game, India made a horrible start against Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Stadium. While KL Rahul scored just 6, Virat Kohli returned to the dugout without troubling the scorers, his first failure in the tournament.
However, captain Rohit Sharma steadied the ship and passed Sachin Tendulkar in the list of most runs in the Asia Cup by an Indian batter.
Sachin accumulated 971 runs in the Asia Cup, which Rohit broke in the Super 4 stage contest against Lanka.
Most runs for India in men’s Asia Cup
972* – Rohit Sharma
971 – Sachin Tendulkar
920 – Virat Kohli
Sri Lanka won the toss against India and elected to field first in their Asia Cup Super 4 match on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka kept faith in the same XI, which successfully chased down big totals in its last two games.
India lost its first Super 4 game by five wickets to Pakistan and was encouraged by the three left-handers in Sri Lanka’s middle order to bring in offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin for the first time in the tournament in place of legspinner Ravi Bishnoi.
India skipper Rohit Sharma said he would have fielded first, too.
Lineups:
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Danushka Gunathilaka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (captain), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka.