India beat Pakistan by five wickets in T20 Asia Cup

Mohammad Abdullah, Senior Sports Reporter

Riding on Hardik Pandya’s all-round performance, India defeated Pakistan by five wickets in their Asia Cup match in Dubai on Sunday, avenging their T20 World Cup hammering by their opponents on the same ground last year.

Pandya claimed 3-25 before smashing an unbeaten 33 off 17 balls with the help of four boundaries and a six as India achieved the target with two balls to spare.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pandya shared seven wickets between them as India restricted Pakistan to 147 after choosing to field first after winning the toss.

In reply, India got off to a stuttering start and lost the first wicket with just one run on the board when KL Rahul was bowled out for a golden duck by Naseem Shah.

Virat Kolhi got off to a nervous start, he was not middling the ball well and played some anxious shot. He held his nerves and played some good cricketing shots to the delight of the crowd but failed to convert the start into a big score.

Rohit and Kohli added 49 runs for the second wicket to put the innings back on the track. India were cruising towards the target before a double strike in quick succession pegged them back.

Rohit holed out to Iftikhar on the long off before Kohli was caught in the similar style three runs later, which left India tottering on 53/3. The onus of taking India through fell on the shoulder of Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja.

A 36-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Suryakumar and Jadeja took India to 89/3. But due to losing the wickets on regular interval, India’s asking rate went beyond 10 an over.

Hardik Pandya and Jadeja played carefully and brought the equation down 32 needed off 18 balls. When Jadeja was dismissed, India needed 7 off five. Dinesh Karthik took a single to give the strike to Pandya, who hit a six to put the doubts to rest.

Earlier, Bhuvneshwar gave India first breakthrough when he got rid of the dangerman Babar. The Pakistani captain failed to capitalize on the two chances he got in the first over and holed out to Arshdeep Singh in the mid-wicket.

He tried to pull a short delivery off Bhuvneshwar but failed to read the length right as the ball took the leading edge went high up in the air and Arshdeep did not make any mistake.

An eventful first over by Bhuvneshwar saw two reviews being used. On the second ball of the over, Babar was given out LBW but the decision was turned down after the replays showed that ball was high and would have missed the stumps.

On the last ball of the same over, there was a huge appeal for a caught behind but umpire was convinced. Rohit decided to go for a review and the original decision was upheld by the third umpire thus India lost their one review in the first over.

After the dismissal of Babar, Pakistan came under pressure and a charged-up Indian pace duo of Bhuvneshwar and Arshdeep started attacking from both the end to mount the pressure and stop the flow of runs.

Rizwan along with Fakhar Zaman started to build the innings and the pair added 27 runs to take the score to 42 before Avesh Khan struck to give India second success. He had Fakhar caught behind by wicket-keeper Karthik.

After losing two wickets with just 42 runs on the board, Pakistan needed someone to play a sheet-anchor to steady the ship. Rizwan was holding the fort on one end. He knuckled down to revive the faltering innings along with Mohammad Ifthikar.

They trod cautiously and shared a 45-run partnership for the third wicket. Pakistan needed to keep wickets in hand and go after the bowling in the death overs.

Pakistan, who defeated India by ten wickets in the T20 World Cup at the same venue last year, did not look like  a pale shadow of the same team.

When the things seemed to be coming under control and Pakistan looked set to be heading for a big score, Hardik Pandya struck in quick succession to peg them back.

Iftikhar top-edged an out-going delivery to Karthik off Pandya in a bid to pull it as Pakistan were reduced to 87/3.

The dismissal of Iftikhar opened the floodgates for India. In his next over, Pandya claimed the wickets of Rizwan and Khushdil Shah in the span of three deliveries to push Pakistan completely on the back foot.

Rizwan ducked to avoid a short-pitched ball but failed to get his bat off the line of the delivery. The ball hit the bat and landed in the safe hands of Avesh in the third-man region. Khushdil also lost the control of the shot and gave an easy catch to Jadeja.

In his next spell, Bhuvneshwar picked up the wickets of Asif Ali before sending back Shadab Khan and Naseem Shah back to the pavilion off the consecutive deliveries. Pakistan were in tatters and looked set to be bowled out for a score of around 120.

But Shahanawaz Dahani’s late blitz down the order changed the complexion and helped Pakistan post a fighting total. He smashed a quick-fire 6-ball 16 with the help of two sixes and shared a 19-run partnership with Haris Rauf to take the score to 147 all out in 19.5 overs.