India emerged victorious in a tight encounter against Pakistan in their opening match of their Asia Cup campaign. A last gasp victory saw the men in blue take victory with 5 wickets left.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl first.
It was Bhuvaneshwar Kumar who opened the bowling attack for India. It wasn’t too long before he took the wicket of Babar Azam in his second over. Avesh Khan was also in the attack and he too claimed his first wicket of the match as he picked up the wicket of Fakhar Zaman in the 6th over.
Mohammed Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed stitched together what was looking like a good partnership until Ahmed fell to Hardik Pandya in the 13th over. Pakistan were 90/3 at the end of 13 overs. Hardik struck again as he took the wicket of Mohammed Rizwan in his next over. Rizwan made 43 off 42 balls. Pandya claimed his third wicket in the same over as he sent Khushdil Shah back to the dressing room. India were feeding off the short deliveries as they seemed to bring fortune to them.
Onto the business end of the innings and Bhuvaneshwar was back. Did not take him long to make an impact as he immediately picked up the wicket of Asif Ali in the 17th over. Arshdeep Singh was in the mix too as he picked up the wicket of Mohammad Nawaz in the 18th over. Bhuvaneshwar was clinical in his bowling in his next over too as he picked up two wickets, Shadab Khan and Naseem Shah. Arshdeep bowled the last over as he took the wicket of Shahnawaz Dahani on the penultimate ball of the innings.
Pakistan were bowled out for 147 runs as Bhuvaneshwar was at the top of the Indian bowling charts as he picked up 4/26. Hardik was impressive as he got 3/25. Arshdeep with 2/33 and Avesh with 1/19 capped it off.
It was time for Indians to chase 148 down in 20 overs. Out came Rohit Sharma and Lokesh Rahul.
Naseem Shah opened the bowling attack for the Pakistanis.
He was soon to create an impact as he got KL Rahul bowled on the second delivery of the innings. Rahul was gone the very first ball he faced. Out came Virat Kohli to try and steady the ship. Virat was aggressive from the start and showed great intent in taking the innings forward. Rohit also picked up after a slow start. But on the last ball of the 8th over, just after smashing one into the crowd, Rohit went for another lofted shot but miscued it to the off side where Iftikhar Ahmed caught it. Rohit was gone for 12 runs. Out came Ravi Jadeja.
Kohli continued on as he showed some glimpses of his older self. But it was again short-lived as he sent one straight down long-off where he was caught by Iftikhar. A huge moment in the game. Kohli was gone for a well made 35 off 34 balls.
Suryakumar Yadav came on to bat. Jadeja was the aggressor this time as he hit 2 fours and 2 sixes in his knock of 35 off 29 balls. Suryakumar Yadav looked to settle in as he kept rotating the strike, but Naseem took his wicket as he slogged and missed. India were reeling at 89/4 when Hardik Pandya stepped on to the crease.
Jadeja looked set. It was Pandya who took charge and played a composed innings of 33 off 17 balls which included 4 fours and 1 six. In the last 2 overs, India required 21 runs. Haris Rauf got hit for 3 boundaries off Hardik Pandya who steered the odds towards India.
Nawaz was bowling the last over. In his very first delivery, he picked off Ravindra Jadeja and clean bowls him as Jadeja went for the big slog and missed. Dinesh Karthik came on to the crease and was able to get off strike the very first delivery. India needed 5 runs off 3 balls and it was Hardik Pandya on strike.
A flat and short-ish ball from Nawaz was sent flying flat into the stands as Pandya cleared it for a match winning six. A perfect finish to a perfect innings that came in the best possible time for India. Pandya was the player of the match for his heroics with both the bat and the ball. A tense finish to a superb game of cricket.
India pick up the 2 points from their win. They will go on to face Hong Kong in their second match on the 31st of August at the Dubai International Stadium.
Image credit: Twitter/BCCI
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