Rain spoils the party in the biggest Asia Cup clash

Rain spoils the party in the biggest Asia Cup clash: the most anticipated clash between Pakistan and India, two arch-rivals, took place in Kandy today. Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bat in overcast conditions on a pitch that was tricky. All cricket experts before the start of this match highlighted the talent Pakistan’s pace trio possesses to trouble Indian batters. Indian batters were not comfortable against Shaheen and Naseem.

It took one rain break, though, for Pakistan to gather themselves and start hitting the deck instead of looking for a swing in the air. After that rain break during the fifth over, Shaheen Shah Afridi began to look unplayable. He just kept hitting the ball at a high pace, and the ball kept nipping each way. Rohit Sharma, who had gotten off to a decent start, caught the worst of it when two balls nipped away to beat his outside edge and the third seamed back in to bowl him tip-off. To the naked eye, there didn’t seem to be any change in the release.

Virat Kohli announced himself with a sensational cover-drive on the up, but soon the slowness from the surface did him in as he looked to run Afridi down to third. The returning Shreyas Iyer made an even more impressive start to his innings, but then he smacked a pull off Haris Rauf straight into the hands of square midwicket. It took a sharp catch from Fakhar Zaman.

During all this mayhem, it was clear India wanted to counterattack at all times. Only Shubman Gill stayed away from playing a shot in anger. After a scratchy inning, he played on a full ball that seamed away at Rauf’s pace. You can’t do much when that happens.

By that time, Kishan had already made his way to 15 off 13, including an uppercut six off Rauf. Pandya, too, hit the first ball he played for four. It was not reckless hitting, but it was apparent India didn’t want to go into their shell even at four down and with a long tail.

Once the three first bowlers were done, a weakness in the Pakistan squad began to show up. Both their all-rounders and all their part-time bowlers are spinners. Most sides aim for three strike bowlers and one all-rounder who can bowl seam. In the middle overs, in conditions that called for more pace, Pakistan didn’t have the services of a fourth quick.

Babar Azam eschewed the adventure of continuing on with a fast bowler for too long in search of wickets and then risking leaving himself a spinner to bowl at death. It was a conservative call, and the two batters scored easily off spin, especially with Shadab Khan missing his length often.

As the innings approached the 40th over, both batters began to put pressure back on the bowlers, taking advantage of the extra fielder inside the circle. Eventually, Pakistan had to go back to Rauf. Kishan, nearing a century but also struggling with what looked like a cramp, perhaps began to play too many shots lest his running slow down the innings. One of them flew off the toe end to end his knock at 82 off 81. However, it was not before Kishan presented himself as a candidate in the middle order, even if KL Rahul was fit.

Pandya displayed his batting skill as a reminder of the time when he was considered a lock in the middle order even if he was not fit enough to bowl. Without taking any risks, he scored his first 30 at a run-a-ball before playing second fiddle to Kishan. However, towards the end, he accelerated, scoring 31 off the last 20 balls he faced. He fell short of a century by 13 runs, having been deceived by an Afridi slower ball.

Naseem Shah, who was arguably the best bowler without wickets to show for it until then, took out the last three wickets to restrict India. The fifth-wicket partnership between Ishan and Pandya was 138 runs.

Had Pakistan’s chase begun, it would have been a thrilling contest as India had Bumrah, Siraj, and Kuldeep in their bowling lineup, but nature had other ideas.

India 266 all out (Hardik 87, Kishan 82, Shaheen 4-35) vs. Pakistan; match abandoned.

Both Pakistan and India are expected to clash again in the super-four round on September 10 if India beats Nepal on Monday.