Explained: How India can still qualify for Asia Cup final after defeat against Sri Lanka

Defending champions India went perilously close to elimination after a six-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka in their Super Four stage match of the Asia Cup 2022 in Dubai on Tuesday. The result left the Men in Blue at the mercy of the other teams to have a chance of making it to the final. It also meant that India skipper Rohit Sharma’s scintillating 41-ball 72 went in vain, as the islanders completed a chase of 174 with a ball to spare. Needing 21 in 12 balls, Sri Lanka scored 14 runs off the penultimate over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, however, Arshdeep Singh tried his best to defend seven runs in the final over but couldn’t do so. However, all is not over for India as they still have an outside chance of making it to the final of the continental tournament. Check all the permutations and combinations here: How does the Super 4 format work? Four teams – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan, have qualified for the Super 4 stage and they will face each other once, which means a total number of six matches will be played at this stage. How will the finalists be decided? Every time a team wins their Super 4 clash, it will be awarded 2 points. Hence, two sides that will finish on first and second position on the points table after the Super 4 stage will play the final of the Asia Cup 2022. How does Asia Cup 2022 Super 4 Points Table read currently? After registering the win against India on Tuesday, Sri Lanka virtually sealed their berth in the summit clash. The Island nation is currently at the top of the Super 4 points table with four points and an NRR of 0.3512, while Babar Azam-led Pakistan is second in the tally with two points and an NRR of 0.126.

Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 are one step closer to entering the finals of the DP World #AsiaCup 2022, after a convincing win against a strong Indian 🇮🇳 side 👏
Here are the standings of the #Super4 so far 📈#ACC #AsiaCup2022 #GetReadyForEpic pic.twitter.com/i0xxb06rmz

— AsianCricketCouncil (@ACCMedia1) September 6, 2022

Notably, Team India India are currently third with zero points and an NRR of -0.125, while Afghanistan are fourth in the tally with zero points and an NRR of -0.589. How can India qualify for the final? First thing first, India require Pakistan to lose both their remaining Super 4 matches – vs Afghanistan and vs Sri Lanka, in order to have any hope of making it to the final. Also, Rohit Sharma-led side needs to beat Afghanistan by a big margin to improve their Net Run Rate (NRR). If all of the aforementioned results go in the Men in Blue’s favour then India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan will have one point each after the completion of the Super 4 stage and the equation will narrow down to an NRR knockout between the three teams. Here’s the summarised version of how India can make it to the summit clash of the Asia Cup 2022: - Afghanistan beat Pakistan. - India beat Afghanistan. - Sri Lanka beat Pakistan - NRR should be greater than Afghanistan and Pakistan