India face heat for ‘chopping and changing’

ROHIT SHARMA’s India have been slammed for ‘chopping and changing’ as they failed to make the final of the Asia Cup Twenty20 tournament with a game to go.

Pakistan’s win over Afghanistan on Wednesday knocked out India from the tournament, which was a warm-up for next month’s T20 World Cup.

India, who won the previous Asia Cup in 2018 played in a 50-over format, came in as pre-tournament favourites but lost their first two Super Four matches to Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

‘I think there was too much chopping and changing done after just one defeat,’ former India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel told website cricbuzz.

‘We lost against Pakistan and made threefour changes.’

India’s tinkering was not confined to the latter stages: Dinesh Karthik had been wicketkeeper for India’s opening win against Pakistan, but Rishabh Pant was brought back behind the stumps for the next match.

Karthik, a hard-hitting batsman who specialises as a finisher in the short format, missed both Super Four matches as the left-handed Pant was retained in the middle-order.

‘The consistency and the clarity of thought is so important, especially when you play this T20 format,’ said Patel.