All the action, all the performances rounded up and reviewed and analysed from the Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2022, wonby Sri Lanka and filled with surprises.
The Asia Cup was pure action and at the end a bit of a surprise with Sri Lanka winning the edition. And it was filled with such performances with almost all major games going to final over deciders. It was a thriller, and every team had several takeaways from the competition as they found new stars or saw the return of some. At the same, negative takeaways were there for all as well with some of those takeaways being highlights of a gremlin present for long now. This is how each team performed. From HK to the Champions
HONG KONG
They are a weak side on the international stage with not that much exposure and player training of that manner as the top teams, and that is visible when they play but what is their more concerning department, atleast was in the Asia Cup, was their bowling unit. They batted decently against India, really not as much against Pakistan but their bowling unit saw them concede a bunch in both and a major reason was that several deliveries were in the hitting arc or slot area for the batters to easily send off to the boundary or atleast get some runs of it. An improvement there would reduce the pressure on their batters. The batting unit failed in the second match as they just couldn’t hold up. Their strength is their ability to stay in the game and chase and that was not present in that crucial second match for them.
BANGLADESH
Bangladesh – Nothing is going right. The only team for whom the phrase – “they are in complete disarray” – would be right to say. They have gotten a couple of very good players and that is what helps them pull the game to the end. Pull it to the final overs against teams like SL and Afghanistan but overall, it is disarray. Failing under pressure and high dependency on the couple of players became greater factors as the game developed in those two matches that they played. There experiment with the opening partnership in Match 2 was a good one and that is a good start to a build but there is just a dynamic of intermittent failing in the lineup which did not allow a free flow right until the end. It was always that one final cameo that made the difference. A pattern that was not for success when the bowling unit gave away freebies.
AFGHANISTAN
Disciplined once again. That was it. They took part in most of the low scoring games. Two of their games were high scoring – One was in Sharjah, the second one was against an Indian aide ona day where Kohli was in a way dropped on a catch chance, and then was comfortable against spin with minor errors from the Afghan side. Batting has been their weakness but in the Asia Cup, except ofcourse against a formidable Indian side, the key players struck the ball hard. Aggression was their nature. Most of their batters continuously had a strike rate of 100+ in all the matches or were in the nineties in matches they faced sides such as Pakistan and India. This approach works for them as long as their Top order players work and is otherwise risky but that is what was golden for them. The top players worked. They also faced a bit of badluck in the Super Fours, losing their tosses, which hurts them even more than certain other teams.
INDIA
Were supposed to be favourites. Were the favourites after the group stages. Then they lost to both Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They had one major issue throughout the tournament and that had to do with their bowling: Avesh was a disaster in the tournament for the two matches he played, Chahal was again out of his spin tricks and against Pakistan in the Super Fours, India did not have a bowling replacement for the injured Avesh Khan and then had to bat first. Batting second is an advantage with an extra batter as your chase can be paced better, but when batting first, that day they needed more bowling power. The Asia Cup turned to be a positive for them in the batting front but on the bowling end, with no Jadeja who is also out of the T20 World Cup now (really the opposite of what they wanted out of Asia Cup), they made big errors. Arshdeep was brilliant even under pressure he did not slip. But senior players slipped and slipped bad.
PAKISTAN
Babar out of the party. Rizwan holding the innings together. Bowlers consistently bowling 140kmph+ And a lower order that was prone to tumbling down with a bit of range issues while hitting. The story of Pakistan in the Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2022. The fast bowlers were express, especially as even the main rival opponents India did not have their express pace bowlers in the team. And the express pace helped them especially against Hong Kong. There was some discipline in the bowling as well but they got their tactics slightly wrong at times when deciding upon length, in the search of that wicket. And that hurt them. But they had it in them. Naseem was their man with the bat and the ball, as he was able to get going from the first delivery he faced when he came in the final couple of overs. Spin also worked wonders and in short on the bowling side, a lot went right for them and that helped mask their batting difficulties until the second last match they played.
SRI LANKA
A disastrous match 1. A close match 2. And then a runaway to becoming champions once again. One essential factor that was ever-present in this Sri Lankan Playing XI, that was devoid of experienced fast bowlers or pacers, was the ability of the lower – middle order and bowler to hit runs at a healthy good strike rate, and it wasn’t just one player like Bangladesh, it was the whole group. And that not only helped them win by those knocks at the back end, by the end of the tournament it became a bankable part to fall on. And their key players were there when needed. They have had some players they have had to rely on, and after the first match, they were all their when needed. It was not a proper campaign but a successful one.
A Asia Cup that had everything, and all the close action and what many might have seen at the start as an anomalous result at the end. Individual players shined throughout the tournament and many teams got the right reality checks in a big manner given the challenges in the tournament.
spielens 