Pakistan suffered a crushing 228-run defeat at the hands of India in the Asia Cup 2023 Super-4 clash at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Monday (September 11).
In a match that went into the reserve day, the Men in Blue outclassed Babar Azam and his men in all aspects of the game.
Asked to bat first, India rode on stunning hundreds from Virat Kohli (122* off 94) and KL Rahul (111* off 106) to rack up 356/2 on the board. Rohit Sharma (56 off 49) and Shubman Gill (58 off 52) also smashed dazzling half-centuries at the top.
Defending the total, Kuldeep Yadav spun a web of destruction around Pakistan batters. The wrist-spinner dismissed Fakhar Zaman, Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan and Faheem Ashraf en route to his second five-wicket haul (5/25 in 8 overs) in ODI cricket.
Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur also claimed a scalp each as India bundled out Pakistan for a paltry 128 in 32 overs.
With this defeat, the Men in Green slipped to the third position on the Asia Cup Super-4 points table and their Net Run Rate (-1.892) also took a beating.
Taking to social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Pakistan cricket fraternity expressed disappointment over the team’s listless performance.
Here are the reactions:
