(Cricket news) India lost their 2nd match at the Asia Cup Super 4s against Sri Lanka by 6 wickets. The men in blue now have to heavily depend on other teams to qualify for the finals and the chances are very less. The loss was very disappointing especially because of the manner of it. India's bowling especially in the powerplay was a huge let down. India's most experienced bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the 2nd game in the row was very expensive. Arshdeep Singh did bowl well at the death but he was very expensive in the powerplay. Rohit Sharma once again decided to not use his 6th bowling option Deepak Hooda. The body language of the players when things weren't going right was anything but positive which is a huge concern.

Rohit Sharma said after the match that the team will learn from the experience and become better. The issue is that India has had a lot of bilateral series to prepare and the Asia Cup was supposed to be an event where India showed their quality. The men in blue have not played their best cricket in this tournament. Injuries to Harshal Patel and Jasprit Bumrah have had an effect but the selectors are to be blamed for not selecting the right players. The right player in this case was Mohammed Shami. He hasn't played a T20I since the last World Cup and reports are that the selectors were not considering him for T20Is to keep him fresh for Tests and ODIs. The decision would make complete sense if India were not short of options. Avesh Khan has never performed well at the international stage but he was still in the squad. Shami would've added so much quality to the squad with his pace. 

Selectors had only 3 seamers in the squad even though Dubai is usually a place where there have to be 3 seamers in the playing XI. It's not right that before every big tournament Ravichandran Ashwin finds a place in the squad even after not playing T20Is for a long time. The team management couldn't decide between Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik throughout the tournament so they kept chopping and changing. Ravi Bishnoi was given a game against Pakistan where he performed exceedingly well but was axed from the team in the very next game. 

Ravindra Jadeja injured his knee before the Super 4s and was replaced in the squad by Axar Patel who was a stand-by. Axar Patel has been perfomance well for India in white ball cricket and should have been a part of the squad in the first place. Axar is the direct replacement for Jadeja but Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid still decided not to play him. India changed their combination and played Deepak Hooda who is a batter who can bowl a few overs. Despite being the 6th bowling option, Hooda didn't bowl a single over in both the matches and failed with the willow on both occasions.

The Indian side keeps going on and on about the depth of the side which is becoming more of a myth. If Hardik Pandya is unavailable then the entire team combination falls apart. Now without Jadeja also the team struggles to find a balanced XI. It is not right if India is meant to have incredible bench strength and they are still heavily dependent on the fitness of a few players. The Indian team management and the selectors have a lot of things to fix and proper communication will be needed for that. Ravindra Jadeja has just gone through knee surgery and his availability for the T20 World Cup looks very unlikely at this point.

Also read: Surgery successful, will start rehab soon: India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja