Team India suffered a five-wicket defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Pakistan in the Super-4 clash of the Asia Cup 2022 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday (September 4).
Asked to bat first, the Men in Blue posted 181/7 in their 20 overs on the back of Virat Kohli’s 44-ball 60 and vital contributions from skipper Rohit Sharma (28 off 16 balls) and KL Rahul (28 off 20 balls).
Spinners Mohammad Nawaz (1-25) and Shadab Khan (2-31) were pick of the bowlers for Pakistan.
In reply, Pakistan pulled off a terrific chase and got over the line with a delivery to spare. Mohammad Rizwan starred with the bat at the top, slamming 71 off 51 balls. While the Men in Green lost Babar Azam (14) and Fakhar Zaman (15) cheaply, Nawaz’s blazing knock (42 off 20 balls) kept them in the hunt.
After Rizwan and Nawaz’s dismissals, Asif Ali and Khushdil Shah took the matter in their hands. India were also sloppy on the field as Arshdeep Singh put an easy catch off Asif in the 18th over and paid the price for it.
In the penultimate over, Asif and Khushdil smashed Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 19 runs and made the equation – 7 off the final over. While Arshdeep tried his best in the final and also dismissed Asif Ali on the fourth ball, Pakistan eventually overhauled the target in 19.5 overs.
After the match, the Indian cricket fraternity took to Twitter and shared their thoughts.
Here are the reactions:
