By India Blooms News Service Aug 28, 2022
Dubai: All-round performance by Hardik Pandya (33*) and Ravindra Jadejas (35) strong show with the bat helped India beat Pakistan by five wickets in the Asia Cup clash here on Sunday.
After restricting Pakistan to 147 runs all out, India, despite facing some tense moments, reached the target of 148 runs by losing five wickets.
The credit of the Indian victory goes to Pandya who smashed Haris Rauf for three boundaries in the 19th over to drag India towards victory.
Nawaz gave India some tense moments in the first ball of the last over when he dismissed set batsman Jadeja and gave Pakistan some chances to win the match.
Hardik Padnya hit one flat six in the fourth ball of the over to clinch the match for India and take revenge of the World T20 match last year when Pakistan had defeated Men In Blue.
Mohammad Nawaz picked up three wickets for Pakistan.
Naseem Shah took two wickets.
Virat Kohli earlier added 35 runs with his willow.
WHAT. A. WIN!#TeamIndia clinch a thriller against Pakistan. Win by 5 wickets ?? Scorecard - https://t.co/o3hJ6VNfwF #INDvPAK #AsiaCup2022 pic.twitter.com/p4pLDi3y09
BCCI (@BCCI) August 28, 2022
Earlier, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya, shared seven wickets between them, helping their team to restrict Pakistan to a paltry 147 in the second match of 2022 T20 Asia Cup here on Sunday.
Kumar finished with an impressive figures of 4 for 24 and Pandya with 3 for 25. Young fast bowler Arshdeep Singh also was impressive, bagging 2 wickets for 33. Avesh Khan chipped in with a wicket.
This bowling performance could be enough for India to start the tournament on a winning note, considering Indias strong batting lineup and their current form in bilateral T20 series.
The high-octane clash got off to a dramatic start with two of the reviews going in favour of Pakistan in the very first over.
Captain Babar Azam got off the chips with glorious drives, but fell to Kumars nappy bouncing delivery after making 10 of hi blades.
Fakhar Zaman walked off after he nicked one to Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps off Avesh, which the spectators also could not believe that he had done as as no Indian fielder jumped in air joy, except the Indian keeper.
Iftikhar Ahmed (28 off 22 balls) and Mohammad Rizwan (43 off 42) stood the ground and built a 45 runs for third wicket, but the former lost his wicket to Pandyas bumper after the ball sailed into the gloves of Karthik once again.
Continuing with his bumpers, Pandya picked two more wickets. Thereoff, Pakistan kept losing wickets and if not for those late boundaries from Haris Rauf (13 no) and Shahnawaz Dahani (16 off 6 2x6s), they would have finished with a much lesser score.
When Indian batsmen walk onto the field, it remains to be seen whether they can get 148 runs easily or the Pakistani bowlers make a contest out of it. Interesting couple of hours is in the offing.