Asia Cup Final: An opportunity for Rohit, Virat to improve their batting record in title clashes

COLOMBO: As India takes on Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final on Sunday, there will be a focus on the performance of skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as they will also carry the batting expectations of India team fans into the World Cup starting next month.

Both Rohit and Virat reached personal landmarks in the Asia Cup. Rohit reached the 10,000 ODI runs milestone and Virat has now over 13,000 runs in one-day internationals.

The two stars have not scored big in finals of ODI tournaments like the Asia Cup and Cricket World Cup. In five ODI tournament finals, Rohit has scored just 101 in five innings at an average of 20.2 and a strike rate of 77.

He has not hit a single fifty, with the best score of 48. In the Asia Cup finals, Rohit got scores of 3 (in 2008 against Sri Lanka), 41 (against Sri Lanka in 2010) and 48 (against Bangladesh in 2018). In the ICC Champions Trophy finals, Rohit failed to fire, scoring nine (against England in 2013) and a duck (against Pakistan in 2017).

Virat has a slightly better record in tournament finals, but it does not say a lot. In four ODIs, he has scored 111 runs at an average of 27.80 and a strike rate of 88. His best score is 43. In Asia Cup finals, he has scored 28 (against Sri Lanka in 2010).

In the Cricket World Cup final, Virat scored 35 (against Sri Lanka in 2011). He played ICC Champions Trophy finals in 2013 and 2017, scoring 43 (against England in 2013) and five (against Pakistan in 2017).

While Rohit has not found consistency, Virat has been unable to convert decent starts into big scores in clinchers.

Sri Lanka showed the potency of their bowling attack in the group stage match of the Asia Cup and Indian batters will have a task up their sleeve.

If Rohit and Virat fire, it gives a tremendous boost to the team.

India’s squad for Asia Cup final against Sri Lanka: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar. Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (c), Pathum Nissanaka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Janith Perera, Kusal Mendis (vc), Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Matheesha Pathirana, Kasun Rajitha, Dushan Hemantha, Binura Fernando, Pramod Madushan. (