Bhuvneshwar Kumar has no pace: Pakistan legend Wasim Akram on India's death bowling woes against Sri Lanka

India are on the brink of early elimination from the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 after suffering a disappointing six-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai on Tuesday. It was a woeful bowling performance from the Men in Blue as they failed to defend the total of 173 runs to face their second defeat on the trot.

India have now lost their first two matches in the Super Four and even a victory in their final encounter against Afghanistan won't guarantee them a spot in the final. India looked in control of the game after captain Rohit Sharma gave them a solid start with the bat but they failed to capitalise and were restricted to 173.

The bowlers were expected to put on a fight but the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh all failed to impress as India's pace attack was taken to the cleaners. After his flop show in the death overs against Pakistan, Bhuvneshwar once again struggled in the 19th over against Sri Lanka.

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The experienced pacer ended up conceding 14 runs off the penultimate over with Sri Lanka needing 21 runs to win off the last 12 deliveries. Pakistan legend Wasim Akram shared his views on India's death bowling woes and explained why Bhuvneshwar should not have bowled in the deathagainst Sri Lanka.

Akram believes Bhuvneshwar, who is one of the finest swing bowlers around, has no pace and India needed someone who could clock 140kph and over in the crunch situation against Sri Lanka.

"Bhuvi is a very good bowler. Don't get me wrong but there is no pace. In T20, when you don't have pace, especially on this kind of pitch, he's a medium pacer, just maybe over medium pacer...135 (kmph). You need 140 (kmph) plus bowler like Jasprit Bumrah in the side," Akram said on Star Sports.

When he comes into the squad, you will have two of the best bowlers to bowl the last overs. And you need regular bowlers, who can bowl at the death. You can't pick up someone out of the hand. It's impossible to bowl, if you are not used to the pressure," he explained.

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India's bowling has been pretty ordinary in the tournament so far and their woes were eft exposed after all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was ruled out of the tournament ahead of the Super Four stage. India are without the likes of Bumrah, and Harshal Patel in the tournament, and did not pick Deepak Chahar and Umran Malik among others in the main squad.

India's chances of qualifying for the final hang by a thread after their loss against Sri Lanka with just one game in hand. India can make it to the final only if they beat Afghanistan by a huge margin and Pakistan go on to lose their remaining two matches against Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.