India keep smashing, no matter what opposition they are up against. Tonight, coming up against a Sri Lankan side that has already been knocked out of the tournament, some might have thought India would go easy, that the dead rubber would be played with a laid-back approach. Well, those who thought so were proved wrong pretty quickly. Instead, India went ham and ended up not just setting a huge total, but an appearance on the lists of batting records.
By now, giving India a proper modern T20 start with flashy shots and blistering pace has become second nature for Abhishek Sharma. And he was not gonna back down tonight. Blasting off from the initial deliveries he faced, the top-ranked T20I batter went on to score 61 off just 31 deliveries, setting the perfect platform for others.
Alas, apart from Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma, no one really upped the ante, or else India would have got a much bigger score than the 202/5 that they scored. Samson and Tilak's partnership did make matters much worse for the Sri Lankans, with the latter barely missing out on a half-century.
This was the first time India crossed the 200-run mark in this edition of the Asia Cup, and only the 2nd time in the history of this competition that a team has gone past 200. And even the first time, it was India who in 2022 scored 212/2 against Afghanistan. That night is a very fond memory for Indian fans as it was a Virat Kohli masterpiece that ended his almost 2-year-long century drought in International cricket. His 122 led the team to the highest Asia Cup T20Is total to date.
The 3rd highest totals in the Asia Cup T20Is go to Pakistan's 193/2 against Hong Kong in the 2022 edition, followed closely by India's 192 against the same opposition in the same edition of the competition.
With one last batting inning to go, India will be hoping that if put in to bat first, they put on their finest performance against Pakistan in Sunday's final.
