Pakistan and India produced another cliffhanger as the Men in Green got home on the penultimate delivery of the match to get off the mark in the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup. Pakistan took revenge for their narrow defeat against the arch-rivals in the group stage match earlier in the tournament with a five-wicket victory on Sunday, 4th of September.
Pakistan, in pursuit of the target, lost skipper Babar Azam cheaply as his torrid run with the bat in the Asia Cup continued. Mohammad Rizwan on the other hand, continued his purple patch in the tournament, registering his second successive half-century.
It was Rizwan's innings coupled with a scintillation knock from Mohammad Nawaz who single-handedly got Pakistan back into the game with his 42 off just 20 deliveries. And it was the late hitting from Khushdil Shah and Asif Ali, which got Pakistan home in a thrilling finish.
Earlier in the innings, the Men in Blue were put in to bat first by Pakistan, and the Indian openers made full use of the field restrictions, launching a scathing assault on the young Pakistani pace attack of Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, and Haris Rauf. The pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul put the bowlers to the sword in a sizzling opening stand of 54 runs in just 31 deliveries.
After the departure of both the Indian openers in quick succession, the onus was on the former Indian skipper Virat Kohli to steady the ship for the defending champions alongside the in-form Suryakumar Yadav. But the latter could not replicate his heroics from the previous game and was dismissed cheaply.
Meanwhile, Kohli kept the scoreboard ticking with his timely boundaries and brilliant running between the wickets, and just when Indian were once again threatening to take the game away, Rishabh Pant threw his wicket away by playing a needless shot, which allowed Pakistan a way back into the innings.
The former Indian skipper registered his 32nd T20I fifty, the most by any batter in the format, which guided India to a fighting total of 181 runs at the end of the innings. The Pakistani pacers were taken to cleaners by the Indians in the first innings and it was the slower bowlers who did the damage in the middle overs as Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz conceded just 56 runs in their combined eight overs, scalping three wickets.
Asia Cup 2022 Super 4 - Points Table
|
Teams |
Matches |
Won |
Lost |
Tied |
NR |
Points |
NRR |
|
Sri Lanka |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0.589 |
|
Pakistan |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0.126 |
|
India |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
-0.126 |
|
Afghanistan |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
-0.589 |
from Cricket News: Latest and Breaking Cricket News & Updates Today | CricTracker.com https://ift.tt/U3ZB8ml