Dubai 29 August : At the men’s T20 World Cup held in the UAE last year, Hardik Pandya was a barely a shadow of his abilities across the board and far from his most fit self.He played 45 balls with the bat and played just four overs, the result of which was evident in India’s early departure from the tournament.A year later, Pandya is back in the Blue jersey and in the marquee game on Sunday against Pakistan in Group A of Asia Cup 2022, his versatility was the key factor in India winning five wickets in an exciting match.
The ball was used, Pandya used his short ball with great effect and got more bounce and bounce on a two-paced surface to end Pakistan’s innings midway with his run of 3-25.
After that, Pakistan were bowled to 147, India were in a situation where 59 runs were required from the final six overs.
Then, Pandya (33 not out) and Jadeja (35) shared an innings of 52 runs from only 29 balls.
Even when the left-handed Jadeja was unable to catch the ball in the last over, Pandya capped off the match with an over-long-on of six overs to get India to victory and create a new exciting story in the story of India-Pakistan battles.
The match of both India and Pakistan featured two commonalities in the first overs, which were a bit chaotic as well as being penalised for their slow over-rate in the final three overs when an additional fielder entered the 30-yard line.
In the chase for 150 new pacer Naseem Shah (2-27) struck on his second T20I ball, when K.L Rahul slid inside-edged towards his stumps.
Virat Kohli, who was playing in his 100th T20I was ejected by Fakhar Zaman at the second slip as he chased the ball with a wide angle and was followed by a series of outside and inside edges.He displayed the signs of his imposing self when he cut and whipped his wrists to gather boundaries.
Rohit Sharma, who was cautious up to the time he opened up in eighth over as he took a slog-swept Mohammad Nawaz (3-33) over long-on.However, the left-arm spinner got the last laugh when Rohit was able to get a long-off on the last ball of the over.
In the next over, Nawaz had another big scalp when Kohli hit straight into long-off.Jadeja began his journey to number four by slamming Nawaz to the ground for the six of 98m.
He together with Suryakumar Yadav forged a partnership of 36 runs, but Naseem knocked Suryakumar’s off-stump off in the opening ball of his second innings.Jadeja as well as Hardik Pandya hung in to increase the score to 32 in the final three overs.
At that point, Pakistan were struggling as their pacers suffered cramps and Jadeja was able to get an appeal for lbw off Naseem Shah who was clearly in discomfort after a replay showed the ball was pitching beyond the leg-stump.
The ball that followed, Jadeja lofted with a straight bat to the ground to score six.The next ball, Pandya flat-batted off Haris Rauf with extra-cover.He got a boundary when Babar pursued the ball but he couldn’t keep it from striking the boundary rope.
He then smashed Rauf over the wide long-on and made a short-arm jab at the final ball for the four-splitting deep mid-wicket as well as a long-on to complete the shot.
With seven required off the final ball, Nawaz was able to strike on the first ball, as Jadeja was thrown into a castle while heading for a long slow-motion.
Pandya ended the game in style by crushing Nawaz over the long-on boundary to win an exciting match.
In the past, opting to bowl first Azam exuded beauty while taking the ball with all-face twice throughout mid-off.
In an attempt to get from the Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-26) bouncer, Azam sent a top-edge to an uninvolved fine leg.
Avesh Khan swung in short and received a slight twitch off Zaman’s bat due to additional bounce only before being caught by the keeper.Although India did not contest, Zaman walked off, and was ruled out.Post power-play Pandya, spinners, Jadeja as well as Yuzvendra Chahal, remained tight with the hint of the possibility of a turn.This didn’t deter Pakistan because Mohammad Rizwan cut through backward point off Jadeja for four, while Ahmed took Chahal high over the long-on for six.
However, India held off their assault as Pandya bounced off Ahmed and the top edge was safely caught by Karthik.In his next turn, he made a double strike with his short balls as Rizwan ran straight to the third man, while Khushdil Shah smashed straight to the cover.
Pakistan did not recover from the three wickets they lost in overs 11-15.
Asif Ali was snuffed out on slow off-cutter, resulting in a short-off off Bhuvneshwar.Arshdeep returned to find Nawaz in the nick behind.
Bhuvneshwar was able to remove Shadab Khan and Shah on consecutive lbws.But Dahani hit two massive sixes on the leg-side, and his stumps were tripped by a swift Arshdeep yorker to stop Pakistan’s innings at 147.
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 to India 148-5 in 19.4 overs (Virat Kohli 35, Ravindra Jadeja 35; Mohammad Nawaz 3-33, Naseem Shah 227) with five wickets
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