Hardik Pandya’s All-Round show lifts India to victory in thriller against Pakistan:
Toss:
India won the toss and elected to field first.
In a crucial Asia Cup Twenty20 match on Sunday, India defeated Pakistan by five wickets due to an all-around effort by Hardik Pandya.
At Dubai, India needed to score 148 runs to win, and due in large part to a crucial fifth-wicket stand of 52 between Ravindra Jadeja and Pandya, they did so with two balls to spare.
In their opening match of the six-nation event, pace bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya took seven wickets collectively to secure victory for India after they bowled out Pakistan for 147.
After losing some early wickets, Mohammad Rizwan tried to get Pakistan off to a fast start with his 43, but the Indian bowlers kept fighting back at a full Dubai International Stadium.
With the dismissal of Babar Azam for 10 in the second over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar established the tone for India’s hegemony and finished with stats of 4-26.
Pandya’s three wickets unsettled Pakistan’s middle order.
Fakhar Zaman, the left-handed batsman, and Rizwan both hit a few boundaries as they tried to rebuild the innings.
After being smashed for a six and four by Rizwan, pace bowler Avesh Khan retaliated by forcing Fakhar (10) to edge the ball faintly behind, energising the Indian audience.
The Indian fielders did not protest and did not rejoice until Fakhar left, much to his partner’s astonishment.
After that, Iftikhar Ahmed and Rizwan had a 45-run stand before Pandya broke it with a bouncer that caught Iftikhar behind for 28.
Pandya struck once more to deny Rizwan his fifty and quickly obtained another to further impose restrictions on Pakistan.
Pakistan managed to score 147 despite their middle order failure. Shahnawaz Dahani and Haris Rauf struck 19 runs in the last wicket partnership to give Pakistan a little boost in the total.
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Naseem Shah began his T20I career by taking his first T20I wicket of KL Rahul in the very first over. However, India continued to look good with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s partnership. Mohammad Nawaz removed both the batsmen in back to back overs to pull the game back in Pakistan’s favor. Ravindra Jadeja and Suryakumar Yadav then took the responsibility to rescue India.
After a good recovery, Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed by Naseem Shah but India continued to rotate the scoreboard. At last, 21 runs were needed in the final 2 overs when Haris Rauf conceded 14 in the 19th over and India just needed 7 runs in the final over. Mohammad Nawaz did try to pull the things back in Pakistan’s favor by dismissing Jadeja on the first ball of the last over, but Dinesh Karthik took a single on the next ball and then Hardik finished the game in style with 2 balls to spare.
Pakistan fought well but 148 was not a good enough total to defend, yet their bowlers did their level best to defend it.
