Basketball: India qualifies for 10th consecutive FIBA Asia Cup after Saudi beats Palestine

India managed to qualify for their 10th straight FIBA Asia Cup after a 14 point comeback against Palestine and an assist from Saudi Arabia, who beat Palestine to help India through. After suffering an 80-61 defeat to Saudi Arabia on Friday in Group H of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifying Tournament, India's chances of qualifying to next year's FIBA Asia Cup looked very slim.

India needed to not only win against Palestine but also wanted Saudi to beat them in their match on Sunday. It all worked out well for the Indian team as they became the 15th team to book their ticket to the 16-nation FIBA Asia Cup next year by finishing second in Group H.

How the game played out

A slow start to the game meant that India was playing from behind for most of the 40 minutes against Palestine. India was outscored 25-13 in the first quarter and trailed by the biggest margin in the second quarter when Palestine took a 14 point lead. However, the Indian men did not give up, and heading into the final quarter India kept it close but were still behind by nine and that is when they put their foot on the pedal and outscored Palestine 27-16 to win 79-77.

Amritpal Singh, was India's top scorer with 30 points while also grabbing 12 rebounds. Former NBA G Leaguer Amjyot Singh racked the stat sheet with his 23 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists. Joginder Singh was also one of the Indians to score in the double digits scoring all of his 12 from beyond the three-point arc. India went from an 0-of-10 start to knocking down seven of their final 13 3-point attempts led by Joginder.

Sahaij Pratap Singh Sekhon was the spark off the bench yet again and his contribution to the match was much more than what his stats read, seven points, two rebounds, and two assists but his impact was shown by his plus-minus of +14, which was second only to Joginder's +15.

Kyndall Dykes, Palestine's starting guard, finished with game-high tallies of 32 points and 10 assists, Sekhon's defence on Dykes - especially in the second quarter - played a huge role in India's comeback especially after the latter started off with 12 points in the first quarter.

The full list of 15 teams to have qualified for next year's Asia Cup is as follows - Indonesia, Lebanon, Bahrain, Philippines, Korea, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Iran, Syria, Jordan, and Kazakhstan.

(Image Credits: @BFI_basketball - Twitter)