Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket PlayersWatch: Shaheen Afridi's epic reaction as Naseem Shah dismisses KL Rahul for golden duck in IND vs PAK Asia Cup clash
Naseem Shah's stellar spell with the new ball, which included the dismissal of opener KL Rahul, helped Pakistan get off to a good start although Hardik Pandya's brilliance guided India to a 5-wicket win.
After setting a modest target of 148, little did one expect Pakistan to bounce back and help produce a thriller of a tie with India on Sunday at the Dubai International Stadium in their Asia Cup 2022 thriller. But Naseem Shah's stellar spell with the new ball, which included the dismissal of opener KL Rahul, helped Pakistan get off to a good start although Hardik Pandya's brilliance guided India to a 5-wicket win. But the dismissal of Rahul by Naseem reminded fans of Shaheen Afridi's delivery 10 months back.
It happened in the very first over of the game, in the second delivery of India's chase in Dubai. Naseem dished out a short-pitched delivery outside off as Rahul dangled his bat at it. The ball hit the inside edge and crashed onto the stumps. Naseem gave Pakistan a perfect start as he dismissed Rahul for a golden duck.
As Naseem was celebrating the big wicket, which was his maiden scalp in T20I cricket having made his debut in the format in the high-octane clash, the camera panned towards Shaheen, who was spotted cheering loud for the young pacer for emulating what he had pulled off at the very same stadium 10 months back.
Notably, Shaheen, who is out of this Asia Cup tournament with a knee injury, had dismissed Rahul for 3 off 8 in Dubai in their meeting in the 2021 T20 World Cup, which had helped Pakistan win by 10 wickets. It was Pakistan's very first win against India in a World Cup meeting.
Earlier in the evening, India had folded Pakistan for 147 runs in 19.5 runs. Captain Babar Azam had gotten Pakistan off to a good start with a couple of glorious drives before Bhuvneshwar Kumar provided the perfect breakthrough as he bounced out the batter.
Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular interval as India stuck to their tactic of troubling the side with shot balls. Hardik Pandya picked three wickets while Bhuvneshwar finished with 4 for 26 to record the best ever figure by an Indian bowler against Pakistan in T20I cricket. Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan picked the remaining three wickets as Indian seamers for the first time ever picked all 10 wickets in an innings in T20I cricket.
