India started the Asia Cup 2022 in a perfect manner by defeating the arch-rivals Pakistan in its first match of the tournament by 5 wickets. The match was played yesterday at Dubai International Stadium and the Indian cricket team proved itself superior to the Pakistani squad in all the segments whether it was batting, bowling or fielding.
While Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowlers from India as he took 4 wickets for 26 runs in his 4 overs, the Player of the Match was Hardik Pandya who gave a superb all-round performance.
Hardik Pandya took 3 wickets for 25 runs in his 4 overs and he also finished the match with style for his team by hitting a massive six on the bowling of Mohammad Nawaz. Hardik Pandya scored 33 runs not out (17 balls, 4 fours & 1 six) and ensured that his team went home as the winner by keeping his nerves cool in the pressure situation.
In the last over of the Indian innings when India needed 7 runs to win, Mohammad Nawaz dismissed Ravindra Jadeja (35 runs, 29 balls, 2 fours & 2 sixes) on the very first ball of the over because of which Dinesh Karthik came on the crease. On the next delivery, DK took a single and Hardik Pandya came on strike but wasn’t able to hit the ball properly on the third delivery. When Dinesh Karthik asked him to run for a single, the all-rounder stopped him with a cool gesture which was full of confidence, grit and determination.
The video of that gesture is going viral and you just can’t afford to miss it:
Need #HardikPandya type of confidence in life. #INDvsPAK pic.twitter.com/C0L92yHUsg
— Shubhankar Mishra (@shubhankrmishra) August 28, 2022
Click here to watch this video directly on Twitter
As far as the match is concerned, India won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat first, a decision which was expected by many. Pakistan didn’t have a good start as it lost its skipper and star batsman Babar Azam quite early as he scored just 10 runs in 9 balls and his innings included 2 fours. Fakhar Zaman (10 runs, 6 balls, 2 fours) returned to the dug-out early too after edging the ball to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik but he earned a lot of praises because he walked out even when appeal was not made by the Indians for his wicket.
Though Mohammad Rizwan (43 runs, 42 balls, 4 fours & 1 six) and Iftikar Ahmed (28 runs, 22 balls, 2 fours & 1 six) tried to bring things back on track for their team yet the Indian bowlers bowled pretty well and the Pakistan side got wrapped up at 147 runs with one ball remaining in its innings.
The Indian team also didn’t have a good start as opener KL Rahul got out for a golden duck and skipper Rohit Sharma also managed only 12 runs (18 balls, 1 six). Virat Kohli played a useful innings of 35 runs (34 balls, 3 fours & 1 six) while Suryakumar Yadav got out at the score of 18 runs (18 balls, 1 four).
Team India won the match with 2 balls remaining in its innings and it’s the confident gesture of Hardik Pandya which has made everyone go gaga for him.
