Asia Cup 2022: Pujara suggests India to improve middle-overs batting

Surya Kumar and Rohit Sharma in action against SL [PC: Twitter]

The Indian cricket team are virtually out of the Asia Cup 2022 after a last-over defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka last evening in Dubai. India's collective failure as a batting unit meant their bowlers weren't provided with buffer runs, which is always helpful when playing one bowler short.

If not for skipper Rohit Sharma's 74 and Surya Kumar Yadav's 34, India would have failed to even reach a par score of 150, given another middle-order collapse.

Team India in action [PC: Twitter]

India's Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara, speaking to ESPNcricinfo, described the T20 side's drawbacks, which led to their loss against the Island Nation. 

Pujara, in particular, pointed out the lack of runs in the middle period while batting that leads to pressure on the hitters down the order.

"I think it is the middle overs. Because we're losing too many wickets in the middle overs, we don't have proper batters batting from 15 to 20 overs,"

"If you look at the last game against Pakistan, we got off to a good start but we still kept on losing wickets from 6 to 15. In the last five overs, we can't go hard because we are always five down."

Unfortunately, the Men in Blue have failed to sustain their winning momentum in the Super four stage, losing two crucial encounters consecutively. They will play their final Super 4 game against Afghanistan on Thursday (Sept 9).

Also Read: IND vs SL | Rohit Sharma on the decision to play Rishabh Pant in place of Karthik