Riding on Hardik Pandya’s all-round performance and cameos from Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma’s Team India defeated Pakistan by five wickets in the first match of their tournament in the Asia Cup 2022 at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. Pandya took three wickets and scored 33 runs to help India take revenge. Former India captain and number three batsman Virat Kohli showed a glimpse of form by scoring 35 runs in 34 balls with the help of three fours and a four.
It’s going over the wire! ,#INDvPAK , #AsiaCup2022 , _ Scorecard: https://t.co/mKkZ2s5RKA pic.twitter.com/qziCmhboyy— ICC (@ICC) 28 August 2022
Jadeja scored 35 while Pandya scored 33* in 17 balls. For Pakistan, Mohammad Nawaz took three and Naseem Shah took two wickets.
Chasing 148, India got off to a poor start and lost their opener KL Rahul without scoring a run. Rahul’s wicket dismissed Virat Kohli at the crease, who is playing his 100th T20I today. With the loss of one wicket, the Indian experienced pair of Rohit Sharma and Kohli played with caution but kept breaking boundaries to keep the scoreboard going.
moment of victory#AsiaCup2022 pic.twitter.com/BRo8ByL9mo— ICC (@ICC) 28 August 2022
Virat Kohli was in red-hot form as he kept breaking boundaries to keep India in the hunt of run chases. Rohit also opened his hand but his tenure was cut short as he was dismissed by Mohammad Nawaz for 12 runs. After this star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja came to bat at the crease. Nawaz again hit a boundary in the same over as he cut off Kohli’s blistering form with 35 off 34 balls to send it back to the pavilion.
At that point, Kohli’s wicket had put India under pressure, but it was immediately eased by Jadeja, who smashed Nawaz for a six. After 10 overs, India’s score read 62/3. After this, Suryakumar Yadav along with Jadeja smashed the Pakistani bowlers around the field. Both the batsmen played some big shots to keep India’s run chase alive.
Pakistan made a spectacular comeback in the match as their bowler Naseem Shah dismissed Suryakumar Yadav for 18 off 18 balls. All-rounder Hardik Pandya came to the crease to join hands with Jadeja. The equation for victory in the 18th over was reduced to 32 runs in 18 balls. Jadeja hit a four and a six in the 18th over of the innings. Pandya hit three boundaries in the 19th over and took India closer to victory as they needed seven runs from six balls. In the last over, Nawaz gave a big blow to the Indian team by scoring 35 runs in 29 balls and dismissed Jadeja. After this Dinesh Karthik came to bat. Pandya then hit a big six off the fourth ball of the last ball and took his team home by five wickets against Pakistan.
Earlier, the fast and tight bowling spells of Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar helped India bundle out arch-rivals Pakistan for 147 in a blockbuster clash in the second match of the Asia Cup 2022 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday. For Pakistan, Mohammad Rizwan scored 43 runs while Iftikhar Ahmed scored 28 runs. Hardik Pandya took three wickets for India while Bhuvneshwar Kumar took four and Arshdeep Singh took two wickets.
Opting to field first, India got off to a good start as their star bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar led his side to great success as he dismissed Pakistan captain Babar Azam for 10 runs off 9 balls in the third over of the innings. India bowled 15 dot balls in the first 4 overs, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh performed brilliantly.
After the captain’s wicket, Mohammad Rizwan played some bold and aggressive shots to keep the scoreboard going. After this, Fakhar Zaman came to bat at the crease to shake hands with the opener. Avesh Khan provided India with another breakthrough as he sent Zaman back to the pavilion to give his team the upper hand. Khan took the wicket after hitting Rizwan for two fours. After this Iftikhar Ahmed joined opener Rizwan at the crease.
The pair of Rizwan and Ahmed took their team’s total score beyond 50 runs. It was a good first half for the Indian bowlers as they restricted Pakistan to 68/2 after 10 overs. Yuzvendra Chahal dropped the catch of Iftikhar Ahmed, which did not prove costly, Hardik Pandya dismissed the batsman for 28 in the next over – Pakistan posted 87 for 3 in 12.1 overs. Pandya hit two fours in the 15th over of the innings and dealt a big blow to Pakistan as he dismissed Rizwan and new batsman Khushdil Shah (2) for 43 off 42 balls.
In the 17th over of the innings, Bhuvneshwar gave a big blow to the Pakistan team and sent Asif Ali on a brilliant delivery which was caught by Suryakumar Yadav. India did not give Pakistan a chance to balance itself after back to back wars. Arshdeep Singh dismissed Mohammad Nawaz in the 18th over and could only manage one run. In the 19th over, Pakistan’s Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan opened their hands for big boundaries, but Bhuvneshwar dismissed Shadab Khan for 10 runs lbw.
In the same over, Bhuvneshwar again hit a boundary, dismissing Naseem Shah for just zero. In the last over of the innings, Arshdeep ended Pakistan’s innings as he helped India bundle out the Men in Green for 147 runs.
Brief Scores: Pakistan 147 (Mohammed Rizwan 43, Iftikhar Ahmed 28; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-26) vs India 148/5 (Ravindra Jadeja 35, Hardik Pandya 33*; Mohammad Nawaz 3-33).