All-rounder takes three wickets and hits an unbeaten 33 as India beat Pakistan in an exhilarating end.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya took three wickets and hit an unbeaten 33 as India beat Pakistan by 5 wickets in a hard-fought Asia Cup Twenty20 worldwide at Dubai cricket stadium.
Chasing 148 for victory, Ravindra Jadeja, who hit 35, and Pandya placed on a key fifth-wicket stand of 52 as India reached their goal with two balls to spare on Sunday night.
Earlier, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pandya shared seven wickets to arrange victory for India of their opening match of the six-nation event after they bowled out Pakistan for 147, a late onslaught serving to the facet to that complete.
Good begin 👏👏👏 Memorable sport of cricket 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/drA0Fryc6d
— Jasprit Bumrah (@Jaspritbumrah93) August 28, 2022
Pandya, who returned figures of three for 25 together with his medium-pace bowling, then stood calm to hit the successful six in a tense chase within the event, which acts as a tune-up for the T20 World Cup in October-November in Australia.
India, who misplaced their earlier match to Pakistan by 10 wickets in final 12 months’s T20 World Cup on the identical venue, improved their win-loss document to 8-2 in opposition to Pakistan in Virat Kohli’s one hundredth T20 worldwide.
Debutant tempo bowler Naseem Shah stood out for Pakistan with figures of two for 27, however a foot harm in the previous few overs had him limping as India took management with the right-left batting pair of Pandya and Jadeja.
Fear not, Pakistan followers – the spectacular Naseem Shah ought to be match and wonderful for the remainder of the Asia Cup #INDvPAK pic.twitter.com/1iAG7GA6uA
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) August 28, 2022
Pakistan saved chipping away with wickets as Shah bowled Suryakumar Yadav for 18 and Mohammad Nawaz rattled the stumps of Jadeja within the ultimate over.
Earlier, Kumar set the tone for India’s dominance as he dismissed skipper Babar Azam for 10 within the second over and returned figures of 4 for 26, a document for India in opposition to Pakistan.
Pandya rattled Pakistan’s center order together with his three wickets together with the dangerman wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan, who had hit 43 off 42 balls.
Kumar returned to take two wickets in two balls within the penultimate over, however was denied a hat-trick by quantity 11 Shahnawaz Dahani.
Dahani smashed two sixes in his six-ball 16 earlier than being bowled by left-arm medium-pace bowler Arshdeep Singh, who took two wickets as Pakistan’s innings folded in 19.5 overs.
