Indian cricket fans are quite happy with the manner in which the Indian cricket team defeated Pakistan in the Super Four clash of the ongoing Asia Cup 2023. India won the match by a big margin of 228 runs as the Pakistani team was able to manage only 128 runs in response to India’s huge score of 356/2.
The match started on 10 September, 2023 (Sunday) and India was put to bat first after the Pakistani skipper Babar Azam won the toss. India started pretty well as both the openers, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill scored fifties and produced a partnership of 121 runs for the first wicket. However, the match got stopped due to rain in the 24th over with Virat Kohli and KL Rahul at the crease.
The match resumed yesterday from where it stopped on Sunday and both the batters – Virat Kohli and KL Rahul played superb knocks of 122 runs not out (94 balls, 9 fours & 3 sixes) and 111 runs not out (106 balls, 12 fours & 2 sixes), respectively. Both the batters stitched a partnership of 233 runs for which they both faced total 194 balls.
Indian bowlers were also on fire as they wrapped up the whole Pakistani team at the score of 128 runs in 32 overs and the highest wicket-taker for the Indian team was Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
While everyone felt that Virat Kohli would be awarded the Player of the Match for his superb batting performance, the former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir had a different take and he gave a topic to the cricket fraternity for discussion. During the post-match presentation when Gambhir was asked to name the player who he feels deserves to be honoured with the Player of the Match award, he took the name of Kuldeep Yadav.
In support of his answer, Gautam Gambhir says that he just can’t look beyond Kuldeep Yadav despite the fact Virat and Rahul have scored centuries and Rohit and Shubman have scored fifties because for him, taking 5 wickets in 8 overs and that too against Pakistani batters who play spin very well is a big thing. Gambhir further said that he would not have pressed hard if India had played against the Aussies, the Proteas or the Kiwis because they are not good players of spin but the manner in which Kuldeep has performed in this match shows his quality.
Gambhir praised Kuldeep Yadav as he said that the spinner not only deceived the batter in the air but off the wicket as well. Talking about India’s prospects in the World Cup, Gambhir said that things looked bright for India with two upfront pacers and Kuldeep as these three bowlers can take wickets in any phase of the match.
However, the Player of the Match was eventually awarded to Virat Kohli for his 47th ODI hundred and with this, he moved closer to Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 centuries in ODIs.
Do you agree with Gautam Gambhir?
