Morne Morkel provides crucial fitness update on Hardik Pandya, Abhishek Sharma after IND vs SL Asia Cup 2025 Super 4 match  

Team India bowling coach Morne Morkel has confirmed that seasoned all-rounder Hardik Pandya and young opener Abhishek Sharma suffered from cramps during the Asia Cup 2025 Super 4 match against Sri Lanka on Friday, September 26.

India beat Sri Lanka in the Super Over in Dubai to maintain their unbeaten run in the T20 competition. After both teams scored 202-5 in their 20 overs, Arshdeep Singh bowled a brilliant Super Over, conceding only two runs, to seal the game for India. The Men in Blue will now face Pakistan in the final on September 28.

Ahead of the summit clash, though, there are a few fitness concerns for India. Pandya went off the field after bowling just one over. Later, Abhishek also walked off, while Tilak Varma too was seen limping after attempting a catch. At a press conference following the thrilling India vs Sri Lanka contest in Dubai, Morkel provided a fitness update on Pandya and Abhishek. He said:

"Both of them struggled with cramps. Hardik, I know, we will assess tonight and tomorrow morning and we'll take a call on that. But, both of them were just down with cramps during the game. Abhishek is fine."

Pandya dismissed Kusal Mendis for a duck in the only over he bowled in the match. Earlier, Abhishek notched up his third consecutive half-century, hammering 61 off 31 deliveries, with the aid of eight fours and two sixes.

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"The new ball is almost coming on nicely" - Morne Morkel on India's struggles in the powerplay

While India are unbeaten in Asia Cup 2025, their bowling has been put under pressure, especially in the first 10 overs. On Friday as well, Sri Lanka had raced to 114-1 at the halfway stage of their innings. Morkel admitted that the fast bowlers have had their task cut out since the ball comes onto the bat nicely early on.

"If you look at the trend of the tournament over here, it's almost like after 10 overs the scoring rate slows down. The new ball is almost coming on nicely. The margin for error is quite small with the new ball. As a bowling attack, we want to go that aggressive route and get wickets. There hasn't been a lot of swing upfront," the former Proteas pacer explained.

"Our mindset is to take as many wickets as we can in the powerplay. We know, in the middle period, our spinners are going to come into play," Morkel concluded.

In Jasprit Bumrah's absence, Arshdeep (1-46) and Harshit Rana (1-54) went for plenty of runs in their first spell. However, the former made a brilliant comeback and starred for the team at the death and in the Super Over.