DUBAI: Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar shone with the ball with four wickets before all-rounder Hardik Pandya sailed India over the line in a final over thriller against Pakistan with a gritty unbeaten knock in the high-octane clash of Asia Cup 2022.
Pakistan bowlers did extremely well to make it hard for India to chase down 148 in 20 overs but Pandya held his nerves calm as he slammed a short delivery from Mohammad Nawaz to power India to claim their first win in the ongoing tournament.
The men in blue were off to a dismal start to their run chase as debutant Naseem Shah castled KL Rahul for a golden duck in the first over.
The experienced pair of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma then took the responsibility and anchored India with an important 49-run partnership for the second wicket.
Kohli was looking solid amid the stand, while Rohit was struggling to score at a quick pace and in the end, fell victim to Pakistan’s pick among the bowlers, Nawaz. He scored a mere 12 off 18 deliveries.
The brilliant Nawaz then turned the game on its head in his next over as he removed the danger man Kohli for 35 on the first delivery as Pakistan reduced India to 53/3 in the 10th over.
World No.2 Suryakumar Yadav had a forgetful outing with the bat as he scored a snail-paced 18 before Naseem castled him in the 15th over; forcing India to further slip at 89/4.
India’s hero of the match Pandya then joined Jadeja at the crease and put on a match-defining partnership for the fifth wicket. The duo added valuable 52 runs in accordance with the mounting required run rate.
Jadeja’s dismissal off Nawaz on the first delivery of the final over gave a thrilling late twist to the match and walked back sorrowly despite top-scoring for the side with 35 off 29 deliveries, laced with two sixes and as many boundaries.
The twist and Pakistan’s comeback into the game, however, was cut short on the fourth delivery as Pandya slammed a shorter length delivery from Nawaz over the long-on boundary to seal a thrilling opening victory for the defending champions.
Nawaz led the bowling attack for Pakistan with three wickets, while Naseem remained impressive with his two on debut.
At the toss, India invited Pakistan to bat first in the most-talked clash of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022.
After being put into bat first, Pakistan were off to the worst possible start, as the side lost their key batter, Babar Azam, cheaply for 10 amid a slow start.
Left-handed batter Fakhar Zaman then put on a brief partnership with Mohammad Rizwan and took Pakistan close to the fifty at the brink of the powerplay before the former fell victim to a short ball for 10.
Rizwan then joined hands with Iftikhar Ahmed and started the recovery with a 45-run partnership for the third wicket. Iftikhar was looking solid and was scoring at a quick pace before another short ball did the trick for India and he walked back to the pavilion after scoring 28.
Following his departure, Rizwan’s stay also remained brief as he too perished courtesy of a short ball from Pandya in the 15th over. He remained the top-scorer for his side with 43 off 42 balls, laced with four boundaries and a six.
The Green Shirts then began to lose wickets at an alarming rate and were soon slipped to 128/9 in the 19th over.
Shahnawaz Dahani’s quickfire cameo of 16 runs off just six deliveries, however, bolstered the side to amass 147 before being bundled out in the final over.
Bhuvneshwar led the bowling attack for India with four wickets, while Pandya followed back with three. Arshdeep Singh, on the other hand, bagged two wickets.
