MIDDLE ORDER AMONG RUNS AHEAD OF FINAL

Varma, Sanju and Axar get vital exposure as India edge Sri Lanka in Super Over at Dubai

- CHANDRA PRABHU @ Chennai

WHEN Abhishek Sharma was caught at deep square leg by Kamindu Mendis in the eighth over against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup Super 4s on Friday, the team management led by head coach Gautam Gambhir might have been thinking on how the middle order would fare, especially after dismissals of the top three including Shubman Gill and skipper Suryakumar Yadav. In India's perfect campaign so far, it was Sharma and Gill who have scored most of India's runs and in two of the five games, played a key role in chasing down the targets. This also meant the middle order did not get enough time in the middle as they would have wanted.

The inconsequential game against Sri Lanka was the perfect opportunity for them to get their much needed gametime and wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson along with Tilak Varma made the most of the opportunity by adding 66 runs for the fourth wicket in Dubai -the first fifty or above partnership between two Indian batters where neither Sharma or Gill was involved.