Asia Cup 2022

A week ago, all was well with the Indian camp after topping Group A in Asia Cup and cruising to Super Four stage. Cut to now, and all that jubilation seems to be a thing of the past. Two tosses lost and two defeats with a ball to spare. Suddenly, more questions than answers have come up for India with the Men's T20 World Cup in Australia now just less than 45 days away.

On Tuesday, Jadeja, who was ruled out of India's campaign at the 2022 Asia Cup after participating in Group A matches against Pakistan and Hong Kong due to a right knee injury, informed that he had undergone surgery for the issue and was expecting to start his rehab soon, thereby ruling him out of upcoming Men's T20 World Cup in Australia.

Just as was the case in their five-wicket loss to Pakistan, the defending champions were unable to defend their score of 173/8, losing with a ball to spare and leaving their hopes of reaching the Asia Cup 2022 final at the outcome of other matches, including on Wednesday's match between Pakistan and Afghanistan. IANS takes a look at the reasons where India lost the plot to Sri Lanka and find themselves now on the brink of elimination from Asia Cup 2022:

In both of India's losses, which came with a ball to spare, Arshdeep had been assigned to bowl two of his four overs in the death overs phase.  With his pin-point yorkers and ability to hold his nerves in under-pressure situations, Arshdeep has been impressive in Asia Cup 2022. In 10 T20Is till now, Arshdeep has picked 13 wickets at an economy rate of 7.60 and took the player of the series award in India's 4-1 triumph over the West Indies in August.

Rohit Sharma's side lost another close game at the Dubai International Stadium to Sri Lanka by six wickets with just one ball remaining, and are now placed third behind Super Four leaders Sri Lanka (4 points from two games) and Pakistan (2 points from one game). The team's hopes of qualifying for the final are entirely dependent on them beating Afghanistan by a big margin and hope Pakistan lose both their games.

India lost another thrilling match to Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday evening with Dasun Shanaka's side defeating them by six wickets with just one ball remaining, thus making Sharma's side's qualification for the Asia Cup final, and possibly a dream title clash against Pakistan, next to impossible.

Avesh was ruled out of the Super Four stage match against Pakistan, on Sunday, after complaining of fever, but India coach Rahul Dravid had expected him to be available for the later games in the tournament. The pacer is currently under the supervision of BCCI's medical staff. If he fails to recover soon, Deepak Chahar, who is in the reserves, is likely to replace Avesh.

"The surgery was successful. There are many people to thank for their support and involvement -- BCCI, my teammates, support staff, physios, doctors and the fans. I will start my rehab soon and try to get back to cricket soon as I can. Thank you to everyone for your kind wishes," Jadeja wrote on Instagram along with his picture.

It was the second consecutive loss for India and they will now have to rely on other results to reach the final of the Asia Cup. An excellent attacking knock by captain Rohit Sharma (72 off 41) lifted India to a challenging 173-8 in 20 overs. After Rohit, Suryakumar Yadav (34 off 29) was the second top-scorer for India, who would have wanted more contributions from their lower-order batters.

"We'll bowl first because of the record here. All the last three games have been chased down here. The approach has been outstanding by our batters and we hope to continue the same. The coaching staff and the players have created the environment for the new players to come in and deliver. No changes," the Sri Lanka skipper said.