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Team India suffered a disappointing loss in the last Super 4 match of Asia Cup 2023 against Bangladesh on Friday, September 15, at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.
After being asked to bat first, Bangladesh reached a respectable score of 265/8 in 50 overs. Shakib Al Hasan (80) led his side from the front with a wonderful half-century, while Towhid Hridoy (54), and Nasum Ahmed (44) played supporting roles.
In response, Rohit Sharma got out for a two-ball duck in the very first over. Debutant Tilak Varma also failed by scoring only 5 (9) before departing in the third over. KL Rahul (19) and Shubman Gill then put on 57 runs for the third wicket to stabilize things. India then lost Rahul and Ishan Kishan (5) in quick succession.
Suryakumar Yadav (26) showed some promise for a while but could not convert his start yet again. Shubman Gill (121 in 133 balls) fought valiantly and hit a fluent ton to keep India in the hunt. However, he could not finish the job and walked back to the pavilion in the 44th over. Axar Patel (42) played a blazing knock at the back end of the innings but fell in the penultimate over.
Fans were angry with team management for experimenting by giving rest to key players. They blamed the team management for the loss and took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their frustration. Here are some of the best fan reactions:
We had to give a chance to the rest of the players: India captain Rohit Sharma
At the post-match presentation, Rohit Sharma reflected on the loss and said:
"We had to give chance to the rest of the players, some of the players are likely to play the World Cup, and the change was inevitable today. Axar batted brilliantly, couldn't finish, showed a lot of heart, kept getting hit on the hand, but he was out there in the middle to fight it out, credit to Bangladeshi bowlers to keep the pressure on us.
He added:
"Not to forget Gill's innings, on a challenging pitch, he showed a lot of character and batted really well. Gill, look, he backs himself and he backs himself, his form has been brilliant in the last two years and he knows what he wants to do, paces his innings nicely. Gill works really hard, he's always there hitting the ball hard and you can see the reward in the middle."
India and Sri Lanka will lock horns in the Asia Cup 2023 final on Sunday (September 17) in Colombo.
