Asia Cup 2022

Sri Lanka, who came to the tournament after a socio-economic crisis and turmoil in their country, suffered an eight-wicket loss against Afghanistan in their opening game. However, since then, the Dasun Shanaka-led side haven't lost a game and are on a four-match winning streak.

At the Asia Cup, in absence of injured Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel, the Indian fast bowlers looked flat, lacked that penetration and killer instinct -- required to seize crucial moments in a big game. Against slightly weaker opponents, they seemed to do a decent job but when quality batters put them under pressure, they faltered.

Spinners Wanindu Hasaranga (3/21) and Maheesh Theekshana's (2/21) impressive bowling performance helped Sri Lanka bowl out Pakistan for 121 in 19.1 overs. Apart from Hasaranga and Theekshana, Pramod Madushan (2/21), Chamika Karunaratne (1/4) and Dhananjaya de Silva (1/18) also bowled with discipline and did a decent job for Sri Lanka.

Before departing for Asia Cup in the UAE, Bumrah and Harshal were unavailable for selection due to back and rib injuries. Before the start of Super Four stage, Jadeja was ruled out due to right knee injury and has undergone surgery for the same, ruling him out of selection for the T20 World Cup in October-November.

Virat Kohli, who had been battling poor form and was unable to score a century since November 2019, fired a warning to rival teams ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia in October-November, smashing a 61-ball unbeaten 122 as India defeated Afghanistan by 101 runs.

Asif was found to have breached Article 2.6 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to "using a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an International Match". On the other hand, Fareed was found to have breached Article 2.1.12, which relates to "inappropriate physical contact with a Player, Player Support Personnel.

After being given Player of the Match award, Kohli had no qualms in admitting that going back to the drawing board in his one-and-a-half months away from the game led to him coming back fresh and excited. The unbeaten 122 against Afghanistan was Kohli's first international century since scoring one in India's first-ever pink-ball match against Bangladesh in Kolkata in November 2019.

In a dead rubber, talismanic batter Virat Kohli gave Indian fans tons of reasons to be happy. As captain Rohit Sharma was rested, Kohli was promoted to open the batting. What followed next was something which anyone could have predicted, leaving Kohli himself surprised. Kohli ended his drought of not scoring a century in international cricket for 1020 days with a sensational career-best 122 off just 61 balls.

The star batter, Virat Kohli who opened the batting with Rohit Sharma rested, put on a quickfire stand of 119 runs with KL Rahul for the opening wicket, before going berserk toward the end to get to the big milestone in 53 balls to continue his impressive run of form since his return to Team India in the continental tournament.

"The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Deepak Chahar as replacement for Avesh Khan for Team India's final fixture of the Asia Cup 2022. Avesh Khan is recovering from an illness and has been advised rest by the BCCI Medical Team," said the BCCI in an official update.

Pakistan, who had to win the match to put India out of contention, needed 20 off 10 balls with two wickets in hand when Naseem Shah walked out to the middle. The tailender, who had only ever faced one ball in T20Is before this, had the experienced Asif Ali at the other end and he quickly turned over the strike to his more senior teammate.