Asia Cup 2022: After defeat against Pakistan, how can India reach the summit clash?

While the Asia Cup 2022 is a tournament about the top teams in the continent, the whole focus has been on arch-rivals India and Pakistan.

After winning the game against Pakistan in the league stage match, India were the favourites to win the second contest as well. However, when it came to the Super 4 stage, things went in favour of the Men in Green who beat India by five wickets in the final over.

India, after being asked to bat first, saw KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma give a good start, however, Pakistan spinners Mohamad Nawaz and Shadab Khan made it difficult for Indian batters to play soon after the departure of both openers.

Suryakumar Yadav too failed to score big and it was No. 3 batter Virat Kohli who carried the bat till the end to help India post 181 runs on board.

Chasing 182, Pakistan lost their skipper Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman early, but injured player Mohammad Rizwan kept attacking Indian bowlers. In fact, Bhuvneshwar Kumar saw the batters hit him for 19 runs in the 19th over which had brought the equation to just seven off the last over. 

While Arshdeep Singh tried to take it till the last, he failed to defend the runs and Pakistan ran away as winners. 

While Team India not only tasted their first defeat of the Asia Cup 2022 campaign, the side will now have to fight for every win they want to enter the final.

How can India reach the summit clash?

Despite losing to Pakistan, India can make it to the Top 2, but for that, they will need to win matches against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. However, that is not all as Rohit Sharma and Co will also need Pakistan to defeat host nation Sri Lanka and knock them from the competition.

But what happens if Sri Lanka wins their next two matches? Then the Net Run Rate (NRR) will come into play.

India would be able to compete in the final if they win their remaining two matches with big margins.

The loss against Pakistan saw India's NRR be -0.126, while Sri Lanka (+0.589) and Pakistan (+0.126) sit at the top of the points table with two points each.