Asia Cup 2022: "India needs to learn to bat well in the middle overs" - Cheteshwar Pujara on where the Men in Blue are lacking at the moment

Team India batter Cheteshwar Pujara believes that the team's batting performances in the middle overs are letting the team down. The Men in Blue have regularly lost wickets between the seventh and 15th overs at the Asia Cup 2022, leading to a poor finish at the back end of the innings.

Rohit Sharma’s side have shuffled their middle order on multiple occasions, with Ravindra Jadeja's injury throwing a spanner in the works. With Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya struggling to get among the runs, the onus of finishing the innings has come down to the lower middle-order.

Pujara believes that the finishers in the Indian line-up losing their wickets prior to the final overs will be a concern for the team. He said on ESPN Cricinfo:

"It brings a lot of comfort to the dressing room when you have over 50 runs without losing a wicket in the powerplay. I think the problem for India is the middle overs and we are not finishing well too."

The top-order batter added:

"Because we are losing a lot of wickets in the middle overs, we do not have proper batters batting from overs 15 to 20. India needs to learn to bat well in the middle overs."

During the Super 4 clash against Pakistan, Virat Kohli and Deepak Hooda were tasked with finishing the innings and ended up with just 48 runs in the last five overs.

In their subsequent clash against Sri Lanka, the Men in Blue tallied only 46 runs at the back end and were dependent on Ravichandran Ashwin in the last couple of overs.

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"India have bought in personnel who are not playing in their ideal position" - Robin Uthappa

The Men in Blue have retained the same top order over the course of the tournament, but have fiddled around with their middle order. The likes of Dinesh Karthik and Jadeja were given opportunities at first, but Pant and Hooda have since occupied those positions in the playing XI.

Opining that the defending Asia Cup champions are not playing the right personnel in the right position, wicket-keeper batter Robin Uthappa said:

"You need to have players who play well in certain positions. India have bought in personnel who are not playing in their ideal position."

He added:

"Deepak Hooda is not a finisher, he has not finished [an] innings for LSG [Lucknow Super Giants], you throw him in the business end of a tournament and you are putting pressure on the player. Make him play in a position where he thrives in."

All-rounder Hooda played at the No. 3 position in the absence of Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer earlier this year. He managed to score on a consistent basis and even recorded his maiden T20I century.

He also played in the top-order for LSG in the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and amassed 451 runs. However, he has donned the role of a finisher in the current Indian outfit and is yet to deliver on that front.

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