Asia Cup 2023: With India through to the final, which teams are still in the hunt? Scenarios explained

A day after they delivered a complete performance to down Pakistan by 228 runs, India handed Sri Lanka a 41-run defeat to collect their third win on the trot in the 2023 Asia Cup.

The Men in Blue crumbled against spin the very next day after getting off to a fiery start thanks to a third consecutive half-century from Rohit Sharma. The spin trio of Dunith Wellalage (5/40), Charith Asalanka (4/18) and Maheesh Theekshana (1/41) shared all 10 wickets between them as India went from 80 for no loss to 213 all out, with rain bringing the game to a temporary halt shortly before the end of the Indian innings.

India would then reduce Sri Lanka to 25/3 in reply and would continue chipping away at regular intervals. The Indians were sensing victory with Sri Lanka reeling at 99/6 when Wellalage once again came to their rescue, this time with the bat.

Wellalage stitched a 63-run stand for the seventh wicket to give the defending champions hope of pulling off an unlikely victory. He was, however, left stranded on 42 as the Lankans lost their last three wickets in a space of five deliveries to get bowled out for 172, resulting in a 41-run loss.

India seal their place in the summit clash

The victory, India’s third on the trot after the washout against Pakistan in Pallekele, took their points tally to four. Together with their superb Net Run Rate of +2.690, the Men in Blue became the first team to confirm their place in the final of the 16th edition.

India have now reached the final of the Asia Cup in three of the last four editions, and Sunday’s final at the R Premadasa Stadium will also be their 10th appearance in a summit clash across formats (they had won the inaugural edition which did not have a final).

Judging by their form so far in the tournament, Team India will be heavily favoured to win the Asia Cup for the eighth time overall — and for the seventh time in the ODI format.

With passage to the final secured, India might be tempted to make some changes in their final Super Four clash against Bangladesh on Friday.

Bangladesh officially eliminated

The only way Bangladesh could have made it to the summit clash was if Sri Lanka defeated both India and Pakistan in their remaining games, and Bangladesh subsequently defeated India.

That sequence of events would have resulted in Sri Lanka topping the Super Fours with six points and a three-way tie between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh on two points each. Net Run Rate would have then come into play to decide the team that meets Sri Lanka in the final.

However, India’s 41-run victory over Sri Lanka has put paid to those hopes, and the Tigers will hope to sign off on a high on Friday and shift their attention to the home series against New Zealand as well as the ICC World Cup.

Pakistan vs Sri Lanka a virtual quarter-final

The spotlight however, will be fixed on the Pakistan vs Sri Lanka Super Four clash at R Premadasa Stadium on Friday that will be something of a knock-out clash to decide the second finalist of the 16th Asia Cup.

The two teams, incidentally, had squared off in the final of last year’s edition, which took place in the T20I format, with the Lankans emerging victorious by 23 runs to take their Asian title count to six and win their first major event in eight years. Sri Lanka had also beaten Pakistan in the Super Four clash in last year’s edition before the final.

Pakistan had registered comprehensive victories over Nepal and Bangladesh and had India on the mat at one stage during their Group A clash in Pallekele before the match got washed out. They were however, stopped on their tracks on Sunday and Monday, getting outplayed in all departments by India.

Sri Lanka, like last year’s edition, barely scraped through to the Super Four stage after a tense win over Afghanistan, and all of their contests leading up to the defeat against India were closely-fought affairs.

Should the game end in a washout, the chances of which are quite high with a 97 per cent probability of rain in Colombo on Thursday, the two teams will finish on three points each and the NRR will decide the team that joins India in the final.

Sri Lanka are well ahead of Pakistan on that front, and a washout will ultimately play to their advantage.