Quick wickets from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli put India on the back foot as they chased down 148 against Pakistan
Quick wickets from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli put India on the back foot as they chased down 148 against Pakistan
After 15 overs, India’s score was reduced to 97 for 4 as Pakistan bowlers tightened the noose on the Indian batsmen. India need 51 runs in the last five overs. Naseem Shah gave a catch to Suryakumar Yadav, who scored 18 runs in the 15th over, which brought the match to a close.
Virat Kohli was dismissed at long-off, caught at the hands of Iftikhar Ahmed to increase the run rate as the score was 53 for 3 in 9.2 overs. Mohammad Nawaz also took the wicket of Rohit Sharma in his last over. Chasing the target of 148, India dismissed KL Rahul for 0 in the very first over. Debutant Naseem Shah took the wicket. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli stabilized the innings with a 50-run partnership. But Rohit Sharma lost his wicket in the eighth over.
Earlier, Hardik Pandya showed his high value under extreme pressure as his well directed short deliveries helped India restrict Pakistan to 147 in their Asia Cup opening match in Dubai on August 28, 2022.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to chase and the bowlers led by Hardik set up the game well for India.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/26) was at his skilful best and his four wickets included the prized skull of Babar Azam (10). However, Hardik’s envious figures of 3 for 25 in four overs during the middle leg destroyed the Pakistani batting.
Young seamer Arshdeep Singh also returned good figures of 2 for 33 in his first appearance in the Indo-Pak match as all 10 wickets were snatched away by Speed Merchant, a first for India in the shortest edition. The first over of the game bowled by Bhuvneshwar was crucial as it involved two DRS calls in favor of Mohammad Rizwan (43 off 42) and a straight drive from Babar.
The umpire gave a leg before wicket to Rizwan on the second ball but ball tracking showed that he was going over the stumps.
After four balls, the Indians thought Rizwan had found a lackluster lead on the way to the wicketkeeper, but the ‘ultra edge’ showed a flat-line on review.
There was not much movement for both Bhuvneshwar and Arshdeep Singh as they managed to keep things tight in their opening spell of two overs.
Babar straddles Arshdeep in the second over, showing great touch in the last 12 months.
However, Bhuvneshwar surprised the Pakistani captain with a bouncer in his second over and he went to short fine leg only to pull Arshdeep over the top edge.
India went with Avesh Khan as the third pace substitute and he smashed a six and a boundary towards the midwicket region by Rizwan in his opening over.
His fifth ball of the over was faced by left-armer Fakhar Zaman, who decided to walk short and wide to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik, who was picked ahead of Rishabh Pant for the big game.
With much noise from the crowd, the Indians could not hear the edge, but Zaman decided to walk, leaving Pakistan at 43 for two in six overs.
After this, Rizwan gave some momentum to the innings by sharing a 45-run partnership with Iftikhar Ahmed (28 off 22) for the third wicket.
However, Hardik changed the course of the game with well-directed short deliveries removing Iftikhar and Rizwan—the former passed it to Karthik and the latter, not sure what he was doing, third man was given a regulation catch. ,
Soon after, Hardik removed Khushdil Shah with another short ball, leaving Pakistan for 97 for five in the 15th over.
Number 11 Shahnawaz Dahani hit two big sixes in the death overs to take Pakistan close to 150.
India took five wickets in the last 30 balls but also lost 45 runs.
faction
India: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh
Pakistan: Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Shahnawaz Dahani