148/5 (19.4)
CRR : 7.53
147/10 (19.5)
CRR : 7.41
India won by 5 wickets 🏆
Player of the Match
Player
3/2533(17)
IND won by 5 wickets
Arijit: This is it!!! The ball goes sailing over the ropes and Hardik Pandya finishes things off in style. India have clinched a victory in this humdinger and it's Hardik Pandya who kept his nerves and cleared the fence to go past the finishing line.
Without a doubt, Hardik Pandya is the player of the match from our coverage.
Hardik Pandya after finishing be like: Acknowledge Me!! The Head of the Table is here!!
So much of twist in the tale and in the end it's India who edges over Pakistan and has won 4 out of their last 4 matches against Pakistan in the Asia Cup.
Earlier in the second innings, KL Rahul was the one to get dismissed early in the innings, right in the second ball of the 1st over. Soon it was Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma who glued a short yet scratchy-looking partnership between them. Both of them stuck 49 runs together and played some scintillating shots in between. For the Pakistan bowlers, it was Naseem Shah offering some movements for the half of the powerplay. After 6 overs, India was 38-1 and soon after a few good shots from Kohli and Rohit, the duo departed on monotonous overs.
It was Mohammad Nawaz with the two crucial scalps and pulled the ball in his court within some moments. Ravindra Jadeja was brought up the order at no.4 Then it was Suryakumar Yadav and Jadeja who rotated the strike and tried to keep the scoreboard ticking. Right in the 15th over Naseem Shah was brought back into the attack and he got removed the dangerous Suryakumar Yadav by cannoning his off stump.
Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya, two of India's primary all-rounders took things down the wire and at one stage 32 runs were needed from 18 deliveries. The duo struck 14 runs of the penultimate over from Haris Rauf and only 7 runs were needed from 6 deliveries. Jadeja was dismissed right in the first ball of the last over from Nawaz, followed by a single and one dot. India needed 6 runs from the last 3 deliveries and that was when Kung-fu-Pandya harrumphed a six over the long on fence and took India over the line
Akshaya: Previously, Rohit Sharma won the toss and opt to field first. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan as usual walked in as the openers in the 1st innings. Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck gold as he sent Babar Azam back to the pavilion with a good short ball. Fakhar Zaman couldn’t contribute much as a short ball from Avesh Khan accounted for his dismissal.
Rizwan and Ifthikhar Ahmed took the responsibility of rebuilding the sinking ship. The duo added a partnership of 45 runs for the third wicket. But a fiery spell from Hardik Pandya in the middle overs pushed the Men in Green on the backfoot. Pandya scalped three wickets within a span of a couple of overs. Ifthikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, and Khushdil Shah were Hardik’s prey.
Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, the Pakistan tail slammed a few fours and sixes at the cue end of the 1st innings and steered the total to 147 runs. In the end, Bhuvneshwar Kumar bagged four wickets, Hardik Pandya got three and two wickets for Arshdeep Singh.
Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, the Pakistan tail slammed a few fours and sixes at the cue end of the 1st innings and steered the total to 147 runs. In the end, Bhuvneshwar Kumar bagged four wickets, Hardik Pandya got three and two wickets for Arshdeep Singh.
Ravindra Jadeja: "Yes, I am happy finally! Yes, that was the plan. We planned to bat out through to end the game. Playing out the important bowlers and score during the bad ones. I wanted to stay till the end, but unfortunately, I couldn't.
Yes, I came ahead of Surykumar in order to tackle the left-arm spinner and the leg spinner. We did it well.
What to tell about him? He is a finisher isn't it (chuckles). Yes, Pandya had his mind clear about his roles and responsibilities. And it is fitting to finish the game with a six. It was crucial to stay focussed and hold the nerve at the end."
Yes, I came ahead of Surykumar in order to tackle the left-arm spinner and the leg spinner. We did it well.
What to tell about him? He is a finisher isn't it (chuckles). Yes, Pandya had his mind clear about his roles and responsibilities. And it is fitting to finish the game with a six. It was crucial to stay focussed and hold the nerve at the end."
Time for presentations now!
Babar Azam | Pakistan Captain: "Yeah, definitely. With the way we started, it was a great performance from us. The bowlers did well to keep us in the game till the very end. Yeah, Dahani's efforts with the bat were commendable. He gave us that 10 - 15 extra to bowl at.
We did try to get under their skin, but Hardik stayed cool and finished the things. Our bowlers did well, even though they were getting some cramps, they kept grinding hard.
I thought to take the game deep by keeping Nawaz's over. But the time finally arrived when I needed to give him the over and he did well in the first three. We will come back with a better performance in our next game."
We did try to get under their skin, but Hardik stayed cool and finished the things. Our bowlers did well, even though they were getting some cramps, they kept grinding hard.
I thought to take the game deep by keeping Nawaz's over. But the time finally arrived when I needed to give him the over and he did well in the first three. We will come back with a better performance in our next game."
Best catch of the match: Dinesh Karthik (for the catch of Iftikhar Ahmed)
Rohit Sharma| India Captain (after signing the match ball): "Halfway through the stage, we knew always, actually the belief is always there in the group. These things will happen quite often, and we needed to be prepared to pull off a game like this. We wanted to make sure that the players know their roles, and have a clarity of it. We would like to take wins like this rather than one sided affairs.
Yes we were challenged at times, but overcoming those challenge will taken them and get some confidence. Since the time he has made a comeback in his team, ihe has been great. What he (Hardik) did was his fitness regime and now he is clicking 140+. We all know about his batting and that's what he his doing now.
Hardik is quite confident of what he is doing, and yes a lot calmer. Its more about knowing his game. With the bat, he was quite calm and guided the team with the win. In a high pressure game, there are times you panic as well. But he was calm at it and was good."
Yes we were challenged at times, but overcoming those challenge will taken them and get some confidence. Since the time he has made a comeback in his team, ihe has been great. What he (Hardik) did was his fitness regime and now he is clicking 140+. We all know about his batting and that's what he his doing now.
Hardik is quite confident of what he is doing, and yes a lot calmer. Its more about knowing his game. With the bat, he was quite calm and guided the team with the win. In a high pressure game, there are times you panic as well. But he was calm at it and was good."
Hardik Pandya | Man of the Match: "Thank you, thank you so much. Actually, during bowling, I do the same thing every time. It is about making habit of bowling a similar type every match. But, I do use change-ups every ball. Back of a length, fuller, slower and into the surface is what I plan for. Luckily, I execute it every time.
I didn't allow the pressure to come at me. I kept my cool and once I knew, I had to go, I did it with confidence. Yeah, with seven needed it was fairly easy. But as you said, it was the left-arm spinner. But I was ready for the challenge. Irrespective of the required runs in the last over, I trusted myself to achieve it. It was a great pleasure to be able to perform and pull out for the team again and again.
Yeah, happy to be performing. Will look forward to the next game."
I didn't allow the pressure to come at me. I kept my cool and once I knew, I had to go, I did it with confidence. Yeah, with seven needed it was fairly easy. But as you said, it was the left-arm spinner. But I was ready for the challenge. Irrespective of the required runs in the last over, I trusted myself to achieve it. It was a great pleasure to be able to perform and pull out for the team again and again.
Yeah, happy to be performing. Will look forward to the next game."
What was interesting tonight is that we have had a cliffhanger of a game tonight between arch-rivals India and Pakistan rather than having one-sided affairs. It's India who arises on top in this encounter and they'll soon meet against each other in the reverse fixture as well.
So, it's time to sign off from the particular coverage, Arijit Kundu is your guy, with the ball-by-ball coverage alongside deputy, Akshaya Krishna Polya. Huge shoutout to Raju Khariya, our beloved scorer analyst for the smooth coverage and appreciation for the inputs from Badal, Probuddha, Bishal, and Jack.
Do stay tuned for all other games around our network- SIXTY finals (Men and Women), Hundred (Men and Women), and much more actions from Asia Cup and bilateral series. Adios fellas!! 🙌