HARDIK- JADEJA STORM HAS BLOWN PAKISTAN OFF IN STYLE IN THE ASIA CUP 2022.

Hardik Pandya- the Player of the Match with Virat Kohli

Xtra Time Web Desk: What a win by team India. Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja snatched the game away from Pakistan even when India was at 89/4 (14.2)

India won the toss and elected to field first.
Last year’s successful duo Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan’s partnership failed in front of Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s swing. Mohammad Rizwan scored 43 Runs off 42 Balls (4 Boundaries and 1 over Boundary with a strike rate of 102.38). Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya bowled outstanding against Pakistan. Bhuvneshwar’s brilliant form and Hardik Pandya’s incredible comeback as an all-rounder really boosted the team’s game.

It was a pacer friendly pitch where:
Bhuvneshwar Kumar got 4 wickets: Babar Azam, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan and Naseem Shah;
Hardik Pandya got 3 wickets: Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan and Khushdil Shah;
Arshdeep Singh got 2 wickets: Mohammad Nawaz and Shahnawaz Dahani and
Avesh Khan got the Wicket of Fakhar Zaman.

Spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja didn’t get any wicket. Over all Pakistan scored 147 all out in 19.5 overs.

On the other hand KL Rahul’s form bothered India at the beginning as he was dismissed for golden duck (0 runs of 1 Ball) by Pakistani debutant Naseem Shah. The trio Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul played together after 10 months but couldn’t play an impressive knock. Although Virat Kohli in his 100th T20 match, played some interesting shots in his short innings (35 Runs off 34 Balls, 3 Boundaries and 1 Over Boundary with 102. 94 strike rate). The cherry on the top is he has crossed over 300 boundaries in this match.

The skipper Rohit Sharma scored 12 Runs off 18 Balls (1 Over Boundary and a Strike Rate of 86.67). Surya Kumar Yadav couldn’t impress tonight. He just scored 18 Runs off 18 Balls, 1 Boundary with a strike rate of 100.

In spite of the unfortunate weakness of the first trio, Jadeja and Hardik Pandya played a matured inning and also made a 50 Run Partnership in the 19th over. In the last over’s first ball Ravindra Jadeja was bowled out by Mohammad Nawaz (35 Runs off 29 Balls 2 Boundaries and 2 Over Boundaries with a strike Rate of 120.69) but Hardik Pandya finishes the things off in his style for India with a six while 2 balls remaining in the last over.

Ravindra Jadeja has played a fine innings against Pakistan

The 19th year old debutant Naseem Shah was impressive throughout the match and kept India under pressure. He got 2 Wickets: KL Rahul and Surya Kumar Yadav. The sad part is Naseem Shah missed the chance of dismissing Virat Kohli for a duck in that same over but unfortunately the catch was dropped by Fakhar Zaman at second slip. He bowled brilliantly throughout. 4 Overs, 27 Runs, 2 Wickets and 6.75 Economy. Mohammad Nawaz got 3 wickets: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja.

Pakistan’s Bowling Attack initially kept India under pressure

It is the 9th time that India has defeated Pakistan in the Asia Cup and 8th time in the T20I matches.

The Catch of Match award was received by Dinesh Karthik for taking a high catch of of Iftikhar Ahmed in Hardik Pandya’s over (12.1).

The Player of the Match was Hardik Pandya. Initially there was a confusion between Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar for their outstanding performances but ultimately the all-rounder Hardik Pandya got the award for his 3 wickets and 33 Runs off 17 Balls (4 Boundaries, 1 Over Boundary with a 194.12 Strike Rate).

India will play their 2nd match on 31st August, 2022 against Hong Kong in this same stadium (Dubai International Stadium)