Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja give India thrilling win over Pakistan in Asia Cup after Bhuvneshwar's four-for

All-rounder scores unbeaten 33 and takes 3/25 to help his side win their opening Asia Cup clash by five wickets.

Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bowl. Pakistan captain Babar Azam said he would have done the same. Five short balls, five wickets and India were almost in sight of victory. But then Naseem Shah got KL Rahul to drag a length ball on to his stumps, Virat Kohli survived a tough chance at third slip and Rohit Sharma almost edged a beauty to the wicketkeeper to give India a reality check. The target was 148 but no way were India strolling to victory. But Hardik Pandya kept nerve and swatted three boundaries in the 19th over before carting Mohammad Nawaz over his head for a flat six to win the game with two balls to spare.

Hardik Pandya  (AP)

It wasn’t a canter though. Till the 15th over, India were swept by a rollercoaster of emotions—Sharma slog sweeping Mohammad Nawaz for a six over midwicket but miscuing it to long-off when trying a straighter shot, Kohli flattering with a top-edged six over his head but checking his lifted shot to almost laser-guide it to long-off till it finally fell on the less experienced but more inform middle-order to work their way out of the mess. But wait. India sprang a surprise here as well by picking Dinesh Karthik over Rishabh Pant. And since Karthik is the designated slog-overs specialist, Ravindra Jadeja had to be sent at the fall of the third wicket just to stem the slide and throw the Pakistan bowlers off track with a left-right combination.

Pakistan slowed down alright, but so did India’s run rate. India clawed to 62/3 in 10 overs and by the end of the 13th, they were to get 65 off 42. Gettable but this is India-Pakistan so multiply the win percentage with the debilitating doubt a match of this magnitude can instil in the system. By then Shadab Khan had wheeled out four overs for 19 to put India under the pump before Shahnawaz Dahani and Shah took over. Dahani checked India’s innings further, conceding just six runs before Shah returned to knock over Suryakumar Yadav’s off stump. 89/4 and now India were really gasping for breath in the face of disciplined Pakistan bowling.

In came Hardik Pandya, who had dismissed Mohammad Rizwan, Iftikhar Ahmed and Khushdil Shah earlier. With a ferocious slap behind point for four, Pandya announced his intent of not taking a step back. Inexperience finds a way to tell though, With India needing 32 off 18 balls, Shah bowled a slow bouncer that was too high and too short before Jadeja belted him through covers for a boundary. Another six over Shah’s head off the fifth ball and Jadeja brought down the ask to 21 off 13. Pakistan were still in with a chance but Pandya snuffed it by milking Haris Rauf for 14 runs in the penultimate over before finishing the game next over.

High point was India’s bowling though. Six overs of spin by Yuzvendra Chahal and Jadeja produced 43 runs and managed to put the lid on Pakistan’s scoring but the real damage was inflicted by bouncers, with fast bowlers taking all 10 wickets, the first time in India’s T20I history. Key was the short ball of course. “When we looked at the wicket, we thought it would swing but there was no swing,” said Bhuveneshwar Kumar, who returned 4/26, after the first innings. “There was bounce, but we know what balls we have to bowl. When you bowl short, few were skidding and some were coming slow. To be honest, we gave 10-15 runs extra [to Pakistan]. New ball is always tricky on this wicket. There could be bounce for their bowlers too, but I'm backing our batters to chase this down.”

Azam was made to weave in and out of seaming deliveries till Kumar set him up with a bouncer that clearly got big on the Pakistan captain. He top-edged it and Arshdeep Singh, standing at short fine-leg, made no mistake. Such was the buzz at the ground that the umpire didn’t hear a faint edge off Fakhar Zaman’s bat but he walked in the sixth over to make it 42/2 for Pakistan. The only partnership of worth came next when Ahmed and Rizwan added 45 runs but Pakistan were never able to build on that. From there Pakistan tottered and scored in tandem. India were on top of their bowling, varying their lengths and pace and not allowing Pakistan to clear the boundary. Pandya took Rizwan and Ahmed and Pakistan were nearly keeling over but for two sixes by Dahani that helped them get to 147.