After their opening match of the Asia Cup 2022 against arch-rivals India, Pakistan captain Babar Azam acknowledged that his team fell 10-15 runs short.
Pakistan lost the toss and was asked to bat first. The mouth-watering clash began with Indian bowlers putting on a dominant opening spell.
But on the back of Mohammad Rizwan’s sensible knock (43 off 42 balls) and some fireworks from Shahnawaz Dahani (16 off 6 balls) and Haris Rauf (13* off 7 balls ) in the slog overs, the Men in Green posted 147 on the board.
Babar praised his bowlers for providing them with a great start. In the 10th over, the Men in Blue were tottering at 53/3 thanks to some sensational bowling from Naseem Shah and Mohammad Nawaz.
“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," Babar said in the post-match presentation.
He also hailed Dahani for his batting in the final two overs which took the team to a respectable total.
“Dahani stepped up with the bat which really gave us something to defend, but it’s a shame we couldn’t finish it off," he added.
The Pakistan skipper then revealed the thought process behind handing the ball in the final over to spinner Nawaz.
“Thought was to take the game deep (and hold back Nawaz’s last over). Idea was to create pressure but Hardik finished well," he stated.
The 27-year-old lauded Naseem Shah for producing a spectacle with the ball in Shaheen Shah Afridi’s absence. The youngster took the prized scalps of KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav.
“We missed the experience of Shaheen but Naseem stepped up on the occasion. He (Naseem) is a very young bowler but bowled so well, and showed so much aggression," he concluded.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the stand-out performer for India, grabbing 4 wickets while only allowing 26 runs to be scored in his 4 overs. All-rounder Hardik Pandya too put on a show with the ball as he returned with 3 scalps in his 4 overs and conceded just 25.
Virat Kohli played a decent knock (35 off 34 balls) during the chase. In what came as a surprise to many, Ravindra Jadeja was sent in to bat at number 4 and that move paid rich dividends as the southpaw scored 35 off 29 balls.
But it was Hardik’s heroics with the bat (33* off 17 balls) that eventually took the team over the line with five wickets in hand and two deliveries to spare.
(SPORTS18 INPUTS)
