Since Rohit Sharma was the toss winner, he had the option to bowl first. Hardik Pandya held his cool and smashed three boundaries in the 19th over before hauling Mohammad Nawaz over his head for a flat six. India fought back from 62/3 in 10 overs to 65 for 3 in 42 balls.
Since Rohit Sharma was the toss winner, he had the option to bowl first. Babar Azam, captain of the Pakistani team, claimed he would have done the same thing. India was in striking distance of a win after taking five wickets off of short balls. A wake-up call for India came in the form of three wickets from Naseem Shah: KL Rahul dragged a length ball on to his stumps, Virat Kohli saved a tight chance at third slip, and Rohit Sharma almost edged a beauty to the wicketkeeper. Even if the aim was 148, India was not going to win easily. Hardik Pandya, though, held his cool and smashed three boundaries in the 19th over before hauling Mohammad Nawaz over his head for a flat six, resulting in a victory with two balls remaining.
But it wasn’t really a canter, either. Until the 15th over, India’s batting was a roller coaster of highs and lows, with Sharma slog sweeping Mohammad Nawaz for a six over midwicket but mis- calculating it to long-off when trying a straighter shot, and Kohli flattering with a top-edged six over his head but checking his lifted shot to almost laser-guide it to long-off. Not so fast! Again, India surprised everyone by going for Dinesh Karthik instead of Rishabh Pant. Even though Karthik is the team’s designated slog-overs specialist, Pakistan’s bowlers were thrown off their game by the introduction of Ravindra Jadeja at the loss of the third wicket.
Both Pakistan and India’s run pace slowed down. India fought back from 62/3 in 10 overs to 65for 3 in 42 balls at the conclusion of the 13th over. Doable, but this is India vs. Pakistan, therefore increase the victory % by the crippling uncertainty that a contest of this importance may introduce. Prior to the arrival of Shahnawaz Dahani and Shah, India was already under the pressure thanks to Shadab Khan’s four overs for 19. With Shah returning to knock down Suryakumar Yadav’s off stump, Dahani slowed India’s innings even further, allowing only six runs. At 89/4, India was struggling to get air against Pakistan’s resolute bowling.
As a replacement for the previously-fired Mohammad Rizwan, Iftikhar Ahmed, and Khushdil Shah, in walked Hardik Pandya. Pandya signalled his intention to not retreat with a vicious smack behind point for four. India needed 32 runs in 18 balls, but inexperience showed when Shah produced a slow bouncer that was too high and too short, and Jadeja smashed it through the covers for four. Jadeja hit a six over Shah’s head off the sixth ball, reducing the target to 21 off 13. Pakistan had a chance to win, but Pandya ended the game in the following over by scoring 14 runs off of Haris Rauf in the last over.
The Indian bowling was the highlight. India’s fast bowlers took all 10 wickets for the first time in T20I history, despite the fact that Yuzvendra Chahal and Jadeja’s spin duo only managed to score 43 runs in their allotted six overs. Of obviously, the short ball was the most important factor. Bhuveneshwar Kumar, who took 4/26 in the first innings, stated, “When we looked at the wicket, we assumed it would swing, but there was no swing.” There was some bounce, but we’re familiar with the deliveries we need to make. Some were coming to a stop and others were skidding when you bowled short. I think we may have given [Pakistan] an extra 10 or 15 runs. This pitch is notoriously difficult with the new ball. I’m not ruling out the possibility of bounce for their bowlers, but I think our hitters will be able to score in this situation.
Azam was forced to evade Kumar’s seaming deliveries until the Indian bowler teed up the Pakistan skipper for a massive bouncer. Arshdeep Singh, stationed at short fine-leg, had little trouble catching his top-edged shot. With the crowd noise level so high, the umpire missed a small edge off of Fakhar Zaman’s bat and let play continue until Pakistan ran out of overs with a score of 42/2 in the sixth. Pakistan’s lone significant partnership came after that, when Ahmed and Rizwan put up 45 runs. Pakistan then stumbled forward while simultaneously scoring. India’s bowlers were in fine form, keeping Pakistan from scoring by using a wide range of delivery lengths and speeds. Pakistan lost Rizwan and Ahmed to Pandya, and they were on the verge of collapse when two sixes from Dahani kept them alive long enough to reach 147.
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