India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup 2022 Highlights: Hardik Pandya stars with bat and ball as India beat Pakistan in thriller

A memorable match and India fans can go to bed with good thoughts. Pakistan fans will be disappointed but hey, they made a match out of a target of 148 and just the sight of young Naseem Shah limping and hobbling in his last over and still bowling three back to back dot balls to Hardik Pandya, almost getting his wicket off the last of those, while grinding his teeth and fighting against the extreme pain of cramps should make them proud. It has been a lovely contest and let's hope the rest of the India-Pakistan matches live up to this. Well, let's hope all the matches live up to this of course, the Asia Cup gives so much importance to every single match after all, doesn't it? Of course it does. On that note, we will join you tomorrow when Afghanistan face Bangladesh in Dubai. Ciao!

In bowling, it's important to assess the situations and use your weapons. For me, bowling short and the hard lengths have been my strengths. It's about using them well and asking the right questions to make the batters commit a mistake. In a chase like this, you always plan over-by-over. I always knew that there is one young bowler and also one left-arm spinner. We only needed 7 off the last over but even if we needed 15, I'd have fancied myself. I know the bowler is under more pressure than me in the 20th over. I try to keep things simple.

… no you don't get prizes for guessing here, it is only Hardik Pandya, the obvious choice, who gets any rewards. He basically played the role of at least 2 players today. 

Halfway through the chase, we still knew that we can win irrespective of the situation. We had the belief and when you have that belief, these things can happen. It's about giving clarity to the guys so that they know their roles well. It was a bit challenging but I'll take wins like this anyday over usual victories. Yes, they (India's pace bowling) have come a long way in the last year or so and they have adapted well to different situations. Since the time he (Hardik) has made his comeback, he's been brilliant. When he was not part of the team, he figured what he needs to do to his body and his fitness regime, and now he is clocking 140+ easily. His batting quality we all know and it's been brilliant since his comeback. He is a lot calmer now and more confident about what he wants to do, whether it's with the bat or with the ball. He can bowl really quickly, we saw that today with those short balls. It was always about just understanding his game and he's doing that well now. In a high-pressure with 10 rpo needed, you can panic but he never showed any of that.

“The way we started (with the ball), was great. We were about 10-15 runs short. Bowlers did really well to make a match of this. Our tail did step up a bit to add those handy runs. Thought was to take the game deep (and hold back Nawaz's last over). Idea was to create pressure but Hardik finished well. He (Naseem) is a very young bowler but bowled so well, and showed so much aggression.”

As is the norm, losing captain Babar Azam speaks first after Dinesh Karthik picks an award for the best catch of the match - which was for his catch to dismiss Iftikhar Ahmed. That was one of the big wickets of course. 

…to Sanjay Manjrekar of all people! It seems there are bits and pieces flowing in the formerly tumultuous, now serene, water under the bridge. Manjrekar first confirms with Jadeja if he is fine to talk to him and latter laughs and agrees. “The way we started (with the ball), was great. We were about 10-15 runs short. Bowlers did really well to make a match of this. Our tail did step up a bit to add those handy runs. Thought was to take the game deep (and hold back Nawaz's last over). Idea was to create pressure but Hardik finished well. He (Naseem) is a very young bowler but bowled so well, and showed so much aggression," he says. 

Well Wasim Akram and Irfan Pathan talking on Star Sports and just as Mayanti Langer cuts to adverts right after they made their thoughts heard, Wasim puts down the mic in a rather exasperated manner just before the broadcast went to ads. It is quite hot there, to say the least. Kudos to both sets of players for the kind of show they put up today, particularly the fast bowlers in both teams. 

Smashes it over long-on and that is the game. Pandya finishes unbeaten on 33 off 17 balls after bowling his full overs and finishing with figures of 3/25. India have won the match by five wickets with 2 balls to spare. What a match this turned out to be. It is not a bad idea to provide Test match fast bowling pitches for a match with two great fast bowling attacks after all. It has been a while since we have seen an India-Pakistan contest and such is the history of this great rivalry that this might just about make it in the top five. But it is up there for sure, we have all been treated and this is possibly the first of three matches that is going to come in the next few days. It is a good time to be a cricket fan, yes.

Dinesh Karthik takes a single off the first ball he faced but then Pandya hits the next one straight to the fielder. This is a nail-biter. 

Pandya goes down to his haunches with a face on his helmet forehead at the other end as Jadeja completely misses the ball and loses his stumps to Mohammad Nawaz, who is bowling the last over, yet another twist? Great knock from Jadeja, he goes for 35 off 29 balls. 

Not as short a delivery was what was the case earlier but a similar shot from Pandya for his third boundary of the over. 

We have seen this before very recently! Pandya starrred with the ball, now starring with the bat, all in the same match in which everyone is cramping! Hip high short ball, Pandya whips it away to the boundary. 

India need 15 to win off 9! Has the Pakistan captain given away the game? He slides in and seems to have stopped Pandya's shot but then the ball slips out of his hands!

Feel the heat! Haris Rauf's turn to fight through the cramps now, for now he is moving fine towards the start of his run up. Pandya on strike with 14 off 10 balls, Jadeja on 34 off 27. What a match this is!

Full from Naseem, who finally manages to continue the over, Jadeja just pumps over the bowler's head. It's all heating up now, Jadeja remains calm as ever though, no change in his expression after that shot. 

It's all happening here. Naseem grinds his teeth and limps hos way to bowling two more balls. He then gets another one to crash on to Jadeja's pads and then collapses onto the ground. This has been a brave, brave effort from the youngster. Jadeja is safe, with the ball tracking showing that the ball had pitched outside the line. “Bach gaye!” says Virat Kohli when the result is shown on the big screen. 

Mid-off is up, Naseem provides width and Jadeja takes the gift. Flays it through extra-cover. Naseem seems to be struggling with cramps as well. Unfortunately for Pakistan, he is struggling far more than Haris did. India need 27 to win off 17 balls. 

Right then, India need 32 to win off 18 balls, the last three overs. Jadeja is on 24 off 21, Pandya on 14 off 10. Naseem Shah, who has figures of 2/16 in 3 overs, has the ball in his hands.  

Haris Rauf pulls up while running in for the first ball of the 17th with a minor cramp. Conditions are conducive to fast bowling but punishing for the fast bowlers. And indeed anyone who is having to do constant physical exertion on the field. Mohammad Rizwan had gone down with cramp early in the Indian innings remember. 

The most satisfying sight for a fast bowler, Naseem Shah sends Suryakumar Yadav's leg stump on a cartwheeling session. 

Suryakumar Yadav b Naseem Shah 18 (18), India 89/4 in 14.2 overs

Short delivery from Dahani, Jadeja goes for the pull and it flies to the wicketkeeper. They appeal but then Pakistan fans in the stadium and the wicketkeeper and slip cordon have been raising their hands for everything today. Interestingly, it is Shadab Khan standing at point that convinces Babar to go for the review instead of Dahani or Rizwan and on ultra edge, there is not a flicker when the ball passes the bat. India 85/3 in 13.3 overs 

We might just have an interesting India-Pakistan match for the first time in about a decade here. This fixture has often been one-sided towards one way or the other but right now, it is anyone's game. SKY and Jadeja are in-form batters who can chase 65 off 42 balls while Pakistan know they realistically need just three more wickets to all but confirm a win. 

He skips down the track and absolutely smashes Nawaz down the ground for four. In the words of a former India head coach, that went along the ground like a "TRACER BULLET!”

A bit of a lull in the scoring rate for India here and the required rate has creeped over 9. Wonder if the pair in the middle are too worried though, one of them have scored a T20I century in the last three months.