'Get to 70-80 and then maybe...': Gavaskar blasts Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma over 'forgettable' dismissals in IND vs PAK

Kohli, who was dropped on nought by Fakhar Zaman at second slip off the second ball he faced, went on to score 35 off 34 balls.

While Virat Kohli had a nervy 100th T20I, Hardik Pandya starred with the bat and ball to power India to a five-wicket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in the Asia Cup on Sunday. Pandya claimed 3-25 with his short-pitched deliveries before hitting an unbeaten 33 off 17 balls, which helped India overhaul the 148-run target with two balls to spare. The flamboyant Baroda all-rounder hit three boundaries in the penultimate over against Haris Rauf before finishing off the game in style with a six over wide mid-on against left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz.

Sunil Gavaskar and Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma

Kohli, who was dropped on nought by Fakhar Zaman at second slip off the second ball he faced, went on to score 35 off 34 balls. Rohit Sharma looked unsettled at the other end to perish after scoring 12 off 18 balls. Both experienced batters holed out at long off in successive deliveries from Nawaz, which reduced India to 53 for three.

Legendary Sunil Gavaskar has questioned the duo's shot selection, saying there was no need of playing big shots at that stage of the game. “Rahul played just one ball, so you can’t judge anything from that. Rohit and Kohli had the opportunity to bat for some time, they got runs. All these earlier times when people were talking about Kohli’s form, I kept on saying that he is not having any luck," Gavaskar told India Today.

“Today, he had a lot of luck, drop catches, a lot of inside edges, which went so close to the stumps, he had the luck. But he did capitalise on it and played some very fine shots."

“But one had expected that with the kind of start that he had, he should have got around 60-70. He got out immediately after Rohit got out. Both of them got out to forgettable shots. At that stage, those shots were not necessary as the asking rate wasn’t 19 or 20 for them to attempt sixes at that stage.

“It was required for them to get going, get to 70-80 and then maybe go for the big shots. That should be learning from this game,” added the batting great.

Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, who scored 35, didn't let the game slip away with their 52-run stand for the fifth wicket. With seven required off the last six balls, Nawaz clean bowled Jadeja with the first ball. But Pandya held his nerves to finish the game off in style with a six.