Well, talk about dodging a banana peel!

World Champions and number one-ranked India were pushed to the absolute limit by 41st-ranked Japan, eventually surviving with a nerve-wracking two-run victory in a five-overs-per-side T20 match at the Asian Games.

Nobody  absolutely nobody would have expected Japan to come out and bowl the way they did against India. On a slow and low pitch, Japan’s bowlers made life extremely uncomfortable for the Indian batters, with their captain putting his faith in spin and being rewarded handsomely.

After five overs, India had managed just 32/4.

Yes, you read that right. India’s vaunted batting line-up was reduced to a score more suited to a low-scoring club game than a World Champion taking on a team ranked 40 places below them.

Abhishek Sharma was dismissed for a first-ball duck, while Sanju Samson made just nine and Ishan Kishan managed three off six deliveries. The only Indian batter to reach double figures was Shreyas Iyer, who scored 16 from 12 balls.

India’s struggle was perhaps best illustrated by the boundary count. They managed just two fours in five overs and not a single six.

Chasing 33 for victory, the hosts lost wickets, but kept themselves in the contest until the very end. India eventually held their nerve to win by two runs, but Japan came within a single shot of producing one of the biggest upsets imaginable.

For India, the result goes into the record books as a win. But for Japan, this was far more than a narrow defeat. They pushed the world champions to the brink — and can take enormous pride from a performance that will surely be remembered for a long time.