Exactly 10 months and 5 days ago, India got off to a shaky start in the World Cup, losing to Pakistan by 10 wickets at the Dubai International Stadium. Rohit’s team did not let that happen in the Asia Cup. But this victory was not easy for Indians. The nerve-wracking match defeated Pakistan by 5 wickets in the last over. India has also paid for the loss of the World Cup.
India captain Rohit Sharma, however, pulled off a ‘ win ‘ early on against Pakistan . Fortune smiled on him, opting to bowl. Although Rohit was reluctant to give it much importance. Why, that reason is understood by seeing his team’s run chase! Pakistan could have won the match if there was a little bit here and there!After winning the toss, captain Rohit said that he wants to use the grass on the wicket. Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar did it! In the third over, Babar Azam departed for 10 runs after catching Bhubaneswar’s short ball at short fine leg.
Then Fakhar Zaman’s ‘walk’ off Abesh Khan’s leaping ball, or Iftikhar Ahmed’s dismissal on Hardik Pandya’s lifter in the 13th over of the innings, or set batsman Mohammad Rizwan’s wicket after an over, all his wickets were credited to the Indian bowlers’ short balls. Khushdil’s departure before reaching 100 was also a short ball.
Pandya shook Pakistan by returning Rizwan, Iftikhar and Khushdil. Bhuvneshwar did the rest. The pacer who returned Babar in the beginning then returned the dangerous Asif Ali and Shadab Khan one by one. It also seemed difficult for Pakistan to collect averages. 128 runs that sat 9 wickets! From there, Shahnewaz Dahani’s 6-ball 16 with two sixes and Haris Rauf’s 7-ball 13 in two small cameos collected 150 touches for the two-time Asia Cup champions. The target for India is 148 runs. In response, India lost Lokesh Rahul in the beginning. Chasing a target of 148 runs on a slow wicket is not an easy task. The task becomes more difficult when the team’s opener returns empty-handed in the opening over. Naseem Shah’s return of Rahul, however, did not worry India that much. Rohit-Kohli was on the wicket!
Kohli was a bit shaky in the beginning but with time he settled down on the wicket. Rohit was not shaky in the beginning but was playing quite slowly.
But he tried to come out of the shell in the eighth over. He hit Mohammad Nawaz over long-on in the fourth ball for a six. After one ball of this, he wanted to hit a six again, this time with long off. But coming down the wicket, his timing was not right this time. The ball went straight into the hands of Iftikhar Ahmed. India lost their second wicket by 50 runs at the end of the eighth over.
The team did not have any danger in the next over. This is the opening ball of the tenth over. Nawaz, who dismissed Rohit in the last ball of the previous over, now hunted Kohli.
Kohli wanted to hit him with a long off like Rohit on the opening ball of the tenth over. The timing was not right, the ball went straight to Iftikhar at long off. Nawaz shook India by sending back Rohit-Kohli with two balls in a row.
But India relied on the depth of their batting lineup. Suryakumar Yadav, who has been in great form in the last few days, drops to five, followed by Ravindra Jadeja. However, he was shaky in front of Pakistan’s bowling today, scoring 18 runs off 18 balls before falling victim to Naseem Shah.
After that came Hardik Pandya on the scene. This all-rounder, who crushed Pakistan’s hopes of big runs in bowling, also became India’s most trusted name in batting. His partnership of 52 off 29 balls with Jadeja took India very close to victory.
India needed 7 runs in the last over. Jadeja took the wicket after hitting a six off the first ball of that over by Mohammad Nawaz. Then Dinesh Karthik came and returned the strike to Pandya with a single off the first ball. The third ball did not get a run, India’s need was 6 runs from 3 balls. Then Pandya ended all the thrills of the match with a six and gave India a 5-wicket win. The rate of 10 months ago has also been repaid.
NU
