DUBAI: All-round performance by Hardik Pandya (33) and Ravindra Jadeja’s (35) strong shows with the bat helped India beat Pakistan by five wickets in the Asia Cup clash here on Sunday. After restricting Pakistan to 147 runs all out, India, despite facing some tense moments, reached the target of 148 runs by losing five wickets.
The credit of the Indian victory goes to Pandya who smashed Haris Rauf for three boundaries in the 19th over to drag India towards victory. Nawaz gave India some tense moments in the first ball of the last over when he dismissed set batsman Jadeja and gave Pakistan some chances to win the match. Earlier, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya, shared seven wickets between them, helping their team to restrict Pakistan to a paltry 147 in the second match of 2022 T20 Asia Cup here on Sunday.
Kumar finished with impressive figures of 4 for 24 and Pandya with 3 for 25. Young fast bowler Arshdeep Singh also was impressive, bagging 2 wickets for 33. Avesh Khan chipped in with a wicket. Continuing with his bumpers, Pandya picked two more wickets. Thereoff, Pakistan kept losing wickets and if not for those late boundaries from Haris Rauf (13 no) and Shahnawaz Dahani (16 off 6 2x6s), they would have finished with a much lesser score. When Indian batsmen walk onto the field, it remains to be seen whether they can get 148 runs easily or the Pakistani bowlers make a contest out of it. Interesting couple of hours is in the offing.