Pakistan hold their nerves to register a nail-biting five-wicket victory over arch-rivals India in the Super-4 clash of the Asia Cup 2022 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday (September 4).
Chasing 182 to win, Pakistan got over the line in the last over. The match went down to the wire after Mohammad Rizwan (71 off 51 balls) and Mohammad Nawaz (42 off 20 balls) led the foundation with a brilliant 73-run partnership for the third wicket.
In the death overs, Asif Ali (16 of 8 balls) and Khushdil Shah (14* off 11 balls) took the matter into their hands, producing stunning cameos to overhaul the target with one delivery to spare.
After the game, former speedster Shoaib Akhtar stated that he had predicted Pakistan will bounce back after their group stage loss and will ‘ruthlessly’ beat India.
“Meine Indians ko bhi kaha, bahut sare doosto ko bhi kaha tha ki itna khush hone ki zaruurat nahi hai, Pakistan will make a strong comeback, meine video mein bhi bola tha Pakistan ruthelessly maarege Hindustan ko. (I told the Indians and my friends that do not get too happy as Pakistan will make a strong comeback and I had said in an earlier video that Pakistan will ruthlessly trounce India),” Akhtar said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
Fondly known as the Rawalpindi Express, Shoaib Akhtar further said that the Men in Blue shouldn’t lose heart due to this loss. He also raised questions over India’s selection policy.
“India should decide what should be their final XI. Who is your future – is it Rishah Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Deepak Hood or Ravi Bishnoi. Find you final XI at least first, because, this is a confused selection from India and I don’t know why is there so much confusion,” he said.
Reflecting on Pakistan’s performance, Akhtar said he was not happy with Mohammad Rizwan’s intent at the start of his innings.
“In Pakistan even if Babar Azam does not score, we have Rizwan, he performed well, but I would want him to see accelerate much earlier. He accelerated after reaching his fifty and his strike-rate improved thereafter, but I would request him to maintain a run a ball strike-rate right from the start,” he said.
Shoaib then acknowledged Mohmmad Nawaz’s impactful contribution with the bat after he returned with the bowling figures of 1 for 25 in his four overs.
“Today what Nawaz did, without that innings Pakistan would not have won,” he said, before adding: “Nawaz hats off to you, you played really well and Shadab, Nawaz the spinner well done, great job; Naseem [Shah] you looked good. The grass was shaved off the wicket, it was made a batting wicket and everyone was just hitting the ball.”
