India Vs Pak: Pandaya sweeps Pak with finishing shot; India Beat Pakistan By 5 Wickets

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India defeated Pakistan by five wickets in the Asia Cup 2022 match At the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday, which was low on runs but high on tension. With this victory, India, who is in Group A, gets off to a strong start in the Asia Cup. With two balls remaining, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja led India to victory.

Where at one point the country was glued to the television screens to watch the demolition of the Supertech’s twin towers in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, the country got quickly occupied by the nail-bitting match between the highly anticipated arch-rivals India Vs Pakistan.

Man of the match Hardik Pandya delivered an outstanding all-round performance, remaining unbeaten on 33 runs off 17 deliveries. He hit four boundaries and a six. His bowling statistics were as follows: 4 overs, 0 maidens, 25 runs, and 3 wickets.

Pandya (33 not out) and Jadeja (35) combined for 52 runs off 29 balls. Despite the loss of left-handed Jadeja in the final over, Pandya finished the game with a six-over long-on to take India over the line and add another thrilling chapter to the history of India-Pakistan clashes.

India, like Pakistan, had an eventful first over. KL Rahul inside-edged to his stumps off debutant pacer Naseem Shah’s second T20I ball. Fakhar Zaman dropped Virat Kohli at second slip while chasing a wide one in his 100th T20I. Kohli’s start was nervous, with many inside and outside edges coming off his bat.

In the second over, he demonstrated his commanding presence by pulling through mid-wicket off Shahnawaz Dahani. Kohli’s authority was visible in his slash through cover and whipping over mid-wicket to collect two boundaries after a top-edge went over the keeper’s head for a six.

Rohit Sharma, who had been cautious up until that point, broke the game open in the eighth over when he slog-swept Mohammad Nawaz over long-on. The left-arm spinner, however, had the last laugh when Rohit holed out to long-off on the final ball of the over. Nawaz had another big scalp in his next over, as Kohli chipped straight to long-off.

Jadeja made his number four debut by smacking Nawaz down the ground for a 98m six. He and Suryakumar Yadav each got four, relying primarily on strike rotation to keep the scoreboard moving.

Suryakumar’s off-stump was knocked off by Naseem on the first ball of his second spell, ending the 36-run stand. With 41 required off the final four overs, Jadeja and Hardik Pandya hung in there to reduce the equation to 32 off the final three overs. Pakistan, like India, was penalised for a slow over rate as one extra fielder entered the 30-year circle.

By then, Pakistan’s pacers were suffering from cramps, and Jadeja had survived an lbw appeal off Naseem Shah, clearly in pain, after a review revealed the ball pitching outside the leg-stump. As India needed 21 runs off the last two overs, Jadeja lofted a straight bat down the ground for six on the next ball.

Pandya flat-batted Haris Rauf over extra-cover on the third ball of the 19th over and got a boundary as Babar chased the ‘all but couldn’t stop it from hitting the boundary rope. Pandya then swatted Rauf over wide long-on and finished with a short-arm jab for a four that split deep mid-wicket and long-on.

With seven runs needed off the final over, Nawaz struck on the first ball, clean bowling Jadeja while going for an expansive slog. Pandya clinched the match with a clobbering of Nawaz over long-on to cap an exciting contest.

Brief scores: Pakistan 147 all out in 19.5 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 43, Iftikhar Ahmed 28; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-26, Hardik Pandya 3-24) lost by five wickets to India 148-5 in 19.4 overs (Virat Kohli 35, Ravindra Jadeja 35; Mohammad Nawaz 3-33, Naseem Shah 2-27).

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