Pakistan's thrilling win in the Asia Cup 'Super 4' stage match against India has put Rohit Sharma's team under pressure to get their campaign back on track.
India's next assignment in the tournament is against Sri Lanka on Tuesday and then Afghanistan on Thursday. All four teams play each other once in this stage before the top two teams make it to Sunday's final.
That means India will have to win their next two matches to remain in contention. That will be easier said than done as Sri Lanka have been on the rise following a horror start to the tournament.
After getting blown away by Afghanistan for 105 and losing the match in 10 overs in the second innings, it seemed Sri Lanka would be one of the first teams out of the tournament.
However, an exciting two-wicket win over Bangladesh took them to the next phase where they exacted revenge for the opening defeat, chasing down 176 against the Afghans.
That means India will have to be at their best against a team that is carrying momentum into Tuesday's contest in Dubai.
India would have learnt some harsh lessons from their defeat to Pakistan. After seeming in control until the last few overs, India let the advantage slip when seamer Arshdeep Singh dropped a sitter off Asif Ali in the 18th over.
Thereafter, Pakistan blasted 19 runs from Bhuvneshwar Kumar's penultimate over and claimed victory despite a respectable last over from Singh. There was an unfortunate incident after the match as Singh's Wikipedia page got edited and incendiary remarks were posted about the Sikh player.
For the Indians, a fine fifty from Virat Kohli and excellent bowling from young leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi were the big positives.
However, the lack of runs from Rishabh Pant and Deepak Hooda, and the continued struggles of leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal have provided more headaches than solutions for what was supposed to be a tune-up to the T20 World Cup.
With Ravindra Jadeja ruled out for months due to a knee injury, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel are more suitable options as they can exploit helpful conditions and are good batsmen as well. India are also likely to bring back Dinesh Karthik who was left out of the team for the Pakistan game.
