India registered five wickets victory in a thrilling India vs Pakistan game at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium to kick off their Asia Cup 2022 campaign. Pakistan, who had been asked to bat first by India, were dismissed for 147 runs in 19.5 overs. With a score of 42 off of 42 balls, Mohammad Rizwan led the team in scoring. Iftikhar Ahmed (28 off 22 balls), Shahnawaz Dahani (16 off 6), and Haris Rauf (13* off 7) also made significant contributions.
With the ball, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-26) and Hardik Pandya (3-25) were the major destructors, splitting an equal number of wickets. Additionally, young pacer Arshdeep Singh (2-33) brought back a few victims, and Avesh Khan (1-19) succeeded in taking a wicket.
Indian batting innings full of misjudgements
In reply, the Men in Blue got off to a terrible start as Naseem Shah bowled KL Rahul for a first-ball duck. The duo of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma added 49 runs for the second wicket to steady the ship. By dismissing the Indian skipper on 12, Mohammad Nawaz ended the duo’s potentially hazardous relationship. Additionally, Kohli (35 off 34 balls) was removed by the left-arm spinner on the very next ball, leaving India in trouble at 53/3.
To help the team out of difficulties under pressure, Ravindra Jadeja and Suryakumar Yadav put up a 36-run stand. Naseem Shah struck again, sending away Suryakumar on 18. It was just appearing that the pair would win the match for Pakistan.
When India required 59 runs off 34 balls, Hardik Pandya entered the fray. He established a key 52-run stand with Jadeja to put India in position to win. In the penultimate over, Hardik was particularly harsh on the Pakistani bowlers. He smashed Haris Rauf for three boundaries to bring the total to 7 runs off 6 balls. Nawaz was tasked with holding off 7 runs in the final over. Jadeja (35 off 29 balls), whom he dismissed immediately, was bowled by Pandya (33* off 17 balls). Hardik then solidly held down one end and hit his fourth delivery for a six over long-on to secure victory for India. Indian cricket fraternity was overjoyed after Rohit Sharma and company defeated the arch-rivals in a thriller.
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