Asia Cup 2022: Rizwan, Nawaz star in thrilling win for Pakistan
Pakistan won the Super 4 game by five wickets though both teams can meet again in the Asia Cup final with India facing Sri Lanka and Afghanistan next.
Pakistan beat India by five wickets in a thrilling Super Four match of the Asia Cup in Dubai on Sunday. India rode a fantastic opening blitz, a brave fifty from Virat Kohli and some luck to score 181/7 but Pakistan assumed control of the chase after a slow start to win with one ball to spare. Pakistan’s batting always revolved on their top three. And jubilation came quickly in the fourth over when Pakistan captain Babar Azam chipped Ravi Bishnoi straight to Rohit Sharma at midwicket. Fakhar Zaman was next, eating up 17 balls to score just 15 before charging down to Yuzvendra Chahal and holing out to Kohli at long-on. Battling through pain, Rizwan however kept Pakistan in the game with a resilient 71 till he couldn’t clear Suryakumar Yadav at long-off in the 17th over.
But then Arshdeep Singh dropped the easiest catch that could have come his way, giving a life to Asif Ali who hit a six in the next over before Khushdil Shah hit two boundaries off Bhuvneshwar Kumar—who brought India back into the game with a wicket and four runs in the 16th over—to enter the last over needing just seven.
It was an improbable win considering Pakistan needed 106 from 60 balls at the halfway mark of the innings. By the end of the 15th over though, Pakistan needed 47 off 30. Mohammad Nawaz made it happen. Here is how the left-handed batter utilised 20 balls to score 42, his highest ever T20I score: four dots, six singles, six fours and two sixes. That’s a boundary percentage of 85.71 in an innings with a strike rate of 210.
India should have anyway ended with more, considering they had scored 93 in the first 10 overs. An explosive powerplay total of 62/1—India’s highest against Pakistan—was just the start Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul needed to dispel doubts that they couldn’t start quickly enough for this format. Fourth ball of the first over, Sharma charged down the pitch to flay Naseem Shah over cover for a boundary. Sharma again skipped out two balls later, pulling Shah over midwicket for six. Rahul joined the party soon, clearing long-off with an inside-out six before hitting the sightscreen, both off Shah. Four and six off the first two balls of the fourth over—bowled by Haris Rauf—and Sharma was running away with the game.
Pakistan hit back in consecutive overs. Sharma wasn’t in control against a slow length ball from Rauf, miscuing it as a result. Rahul too holed out after failing to get the distance behind a lofted shot. Suryakumar Yadav started with a wristy late cut but failed to take on Mohammad Nawaz’s left-arm spin, top-edging to Asif Ali at square-leg. Between the 10th and the 15th overs, India lost three key wickets in Yadav, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya. In his first outing at the Asia Cup, Pant tried to reverse sweep Shadab Khan but found backward point. When Pandya was cramped into hitting the ball straight to short midwicket, India were left with only a final batting pair of Kohli and Deepak Hooda.
This is where Kohli came into his elements. He had done everything till then, whipping Shadab for a boundary three balls into his innings, pulling Mohammad Hasnain and swatting Shah past cover for fours. Hooda played his part too, clearing extra cover for four before executing an unbelievable ramp shot almost arching back but it was Kohli’s six—whipping Hasnain over deep midwicket—that really stamped his class on the innings. With that six Kohli also brought up his second fifty of the Asia Cup, off 36 balls this time, but he was clearly getting tired shouldering the responsibility of getting India to a defendable total. Dinesh Karthik was sorely missed. Shah conceded seven in the penultimate over and Rauf had allowed just one run in four balls till Pakistan suffered a setback in the form of two boundaries conceded by Zaman off the last two balls, fluffing a boundary before spilling a catch.
