India v Pakistan: Hardik Pandya leads India to dramatic Asia Cup win
Image credit: BBC
In the teams’ Asia Cup opener match, Hardik Pandya led India to a thrilling final-over victory over Pakistan.
In order to secure a five-wicket victory with India needing to score 148 runs off of 20 overs, Hardik struck the fourth ball of the penultimate over for six.
Before Ravindra Jadeja was bowled at the start of the last over, the all-rounder scored three fours in the 19th over to change the equation from 21 runs from 12 balls to seven from six.
When Pakistan was 147 all out, Hardik finished on 33 not out from 17.
Mohammad Nawaz, a left-arm spinner who took 3-33 and bowled the final over in Dubai, caught Virat Kohli when he reached 35 off 34 balls.
When six runs were needed from three balls after Jadeja was dismissed for 35, Hardik cleared the long-on boundary. The new batter, Dinesh Karthik, then took a single and Nawaz bowled a dot ball.
Babar Azam’s team was dismissed in 19.5 overs, with Mohammad Rizwan leading the way with 43 from 42 deliveries for Pakistan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar of India taking 4-26.
The two teams have not faced off since Pakistan defeated Australia by 10 wickets at the T20 World Cup in the fall of last year.
The victory places India in first place overall in Group A of the Asia Cup, which is being contested in the Twenty20 format this time around, ahead of Pakistan and Hong Kong. In the opening game of Group B, which also features Bangladesh, Afghanistan smashed Sri Lanka.
The top two teams from each group advance to the Super Four phase, which is played in a round-robin style before the top two teams face off in the championship game on September 11.
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