Riding on Mohammad Rizwan’s charismatic 71 runs knock, Pakistan defeated India by five wickets in a Super 4 state of the Asia Cup here on Sunday.
In the group stage match of the tournament last week, India had defeated Pakistan. After scoring 181 runs for the loss of seven wickets, India bowlers failed to restrict the opponent as Pakistan reached the target of 182 runs by losing five wickets.
Khushdil Shah (14*) and Asif Ali (16) played the match winning scores for Pakistan to help reach the target at the end.
All the Indian bowlers gave away runs in the high-scoring encounter. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravi Bishnoi, Hardik Pandya and Chahal picked up a wicket each in the clash.
Mohammad Nawaz (42) remained the second top scorer for Pakistan in the match. Earlier, India have set a 182-run target for Pakistan after being asked to bat first in the Asia Cup Super Four stage match being played at the Dubai Cricket Stadium Sunday.
Openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul started the Indian innings very strongly and took the Men in Blue past 50 runs in the fifth over.
However, Haris Rauf dismissed the explosive Sharma in the sixth over, while Shadab Khan dis-missed Rahul in the seventh over.
Kohli’s partnerships with Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant, on the other hand, put India in a comfortable position by the end of the 15th over.
It was then Deepak Hooda who stayed on with Virat Kohli to push India’s score past 171 before Hooda was dismissed in the 19th over by Naseem Shah.
A tight last over by Rauf put the momentum back in Pakistan’s favour till the fourth ball of the over. However, two misfields by Fakhar Zaman took India past 180 and helped the Men in Blue set a 182-run target for Pakistan.
For India, Kohli was the highest run-getter with 60 runs, and openers Sharma and Rahul were the second best with 28 runs each.
Shadab was the pick of the bowlers, taking two wickets in his four overs, while Hasnain, Naseem, Haris and Nawaz took a wicket each.—Agencies
