India, Pakistan all set to face off for second time in Asia Cup 2022
Cricket
There is no shortage of excitement amongst the fans to watch the two sides go head to head.
DUBAI (Dunya News) - India and Pakistan are all set to face off for the second time in the 2022 Asia Cup.
Yet another chapter in the storied rivalry is set to be written when India and Pakistan clash for the second time in the 2022 Asia Cup on Sunday, 4 September.
Despite the two teams clashing just a week before, there is no shortage of excitement amongst the fans to watch the two sides go head to head in an encounter that has become a rarity of late.
In the last clash on August 28, the second game of the Asia Cup, lived up to its billing and India came out victors in a tense, closely-fought encounter.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar drew first blood with the wicket of Babar Azam in the early stages. Fakhar Zaman too fell in the last over of the Powerplay before Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed stitched a 45-run stand for the third wicket but the former looked far from his fluent best.
Hardik Pandya broke the back of Pakistan’s innings with a short ball barrage accounting for three wickets in his two overs. A couple of big hits from Shahnawaz Dahani towards the end helped his side to a respectable total of 147.
Youngster Naseem Shah couldn’t have asked for a better T20I debut as he struck off the second ball of the innings to send KL Rahul back for a golden duck. The Pakistan bowlers were on the money and made it difficult for the duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to score freely. India lost both their star players in a span of eight balls as Rohit and Kohli fell in their attempt to accelerate against the spin of Mohammad Nawaz.
To counter the leg spin and left-arm spin in Pakistan’s ranks, Ravindra Jadeja was promoted up the order. Along with Suryakumar Yadav, he added 36 runs for the fourth wicket to keep India within reach. At the fall of Suryakumar’s wicket, India needed 59 from 34 when Hardik Pandya came out to bat.
Having already delivered with the ball, Hardik gave a measure of his brilliant all-round ability – this time with the bat in hand. He smashed Haris Rauf for three boundaries in the penultimate over to bring the equation down to 7 off 6. Though India lost Jadeja off the first ball of the final over, Hardik finished things off in style with a six to get India’s campaign up and running.
