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IND-A won by 7 runs

10:33 PM IST and 09:03 PM Local Time | PHEW! What an enthralling contest we just had! India A starts their ACC Emerging Asia Cup 2024 campaign with a win over their arch-rivals Pakistan A by a margin of 7 runs. Here’s a review of what happened in the match. Earlier, India A won the toss and opted to bat first. Their decision turned into their favor, as they got off to a flier of a start by the their powerful openers Abhishek Sharma and Prabhsimran Singh amassed 68 runs at the end of the powerplay with no loss of wickets. Pakistan A spinners got their side back into the game with 3 back to back wickets just after the powerplay. India A were at one point 120-4 after 14.4 overs. The skipper then joined hands with Ramandeep Singh and the duo put up a quickfire 43 run stand for the fifth wicket to bring the momentum back into their side. Tilak Varma top scored for his side with his knock of 44 runs from 35 balls. Some late hits by Ramandeep Singh and Rasikh Salam powered India A side to a score of 183/8. Sufiyan Muqeem was the standout bowler for his team as he bagged 2 wickets and conceded 28 runs in his quota of 4 overs. In the pursuit of 184, Pakistan A lost their skipper on the second ball off the innings and were put under pressure straightaway. Pakistan A lost another wicket with a score of 21 on the board. Yasir Khan and Qasim Akram then put up a splendid 54 run partnership for the third wicket and brought back the momentum. Nishant Sindhu then bowled an excellent 9th over and dismissed both the set batters inside 5 balls, getting his side back into the game. Arafat Minhas the came in at 5 and smashed some quick runs for his side and brought the momentum back with his knock of 41 runs from 29 balls before getting out. Abdul Samad too joined and smashed some lusty blows but his efforts went in vain. With 24 runs needed in 12 balls, Rasikh Salam bowled a tight over conceding just 7 runs. Anshul Kamboj was then given the responsibility to defend 17 runs from the final over. He dismissed the dangerous Abdul Samad on the very first ball and held his nerves to get his side over the line by a margin of 7 runs. Anshul Kamboj was also the pick of the bowlers for his team as he bagged 3 wickets in his quota of 4 overs. Stay tuned for the presentation coming up shortly!

Time for the post-match presentation.....

Mohammad Haris (Pakistan A Captain): "The team that performs well in the first 10 overs has a higher probability of winning the game, and that's what happened here. We aimed to restrict them to under 170 runs, as anything beyond that is difficult to chase, but we couldn't manage to do so. They have left-arm spinners so, we sent Minhas to tackle them. We lost a couple of wickets in the powerplay and failed to extract any wickets with the ball in the first six overs so, we will aim to improve these in the upcoming games."

Tilak Varma ( India A Captain) - " The credit goes to Pakistan as well. Arafat and Samad really pulled the game back on. Our bowlers did well in the end to restrict them. Abhishek Sharma is the key batter in our lineup, he gave a good start to us. We are an experienced side, as our bowler have been under pressure previously also. We were not expecting the dew, but the dew came in and it became tougher for our bowlers in the end. Ramandeep Singh's catch was very crucial for us and he is a live wire in the field.

Player of the Match: Anshul Kamboj

Anshul Kamboj (Player of the Match): "My plan was just simple, I was focusing on my length and taking wickets regularly. I was trying to bowl in the block hole in the final over as Abbas Afridi was hitting really well, and my aim was to take his wicket."

That's all from this enthralling contest, folks! India A started their campaign on a high note with a victory over their arch-rivals. We hope you enjoyed our coverage. For now, its me Deepak Prakash signing off on behalf of co-commentators Aditya Agarwal, Saptak Sanyal and scorer/analysts Paras Yadav and Chandan Kumar Singh. CHEERS!