India skipper Rohit Sharma stated that he would much rather take a win like the one his team secured over Pakistan in their Asia Cup 2022 opener in Dubai on August 28, than the one-sided ones.
India, the defending Asia Cup champions, had a winning start to their 2022 campaign, beating arch-rivals Pakistan by five wickets in a thriller at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. The game kept swinging till the final over, despite Pakistan having just managed 147 batting first, with their bowlers maintaining the intensity through and through.
Young debutant Naseem Shah castled KL Rahul for a golden duck, and while Sharma and Virat Kohli steadied the ship, the latter unleashing some trademark pulls, India couldn’t quite get ahead with the run rate – a rarity in recent times.
Both Virat and Rohit fell in quick succession, and Suryakumar Yadav, too, failed to stamp his authority as India were left needing 51 off the final five overs. Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya kept chipping away and capitalised on the opposition being penalised with an extra fielder inside the boundary to strike crucial boundaries at the back end.
With six needed off three, Hardik smashed Mohammad Nawaz for a flat six over long-on to seal India’s win.
Rohit was pleased with the result, emphasising on belief within the group while stressing on role-clarity.
“Halfway through the innings, we still believed. That’s the kind of belief we want to have in this group, where you’re not in the game and you still manage to pull it off. We want to make sure they’ve all been given enough clarity around what to do in the middle. I’ll take wins like this over one-sided wins,”
the 35-year-old said after the game.
He also reserved high praises for an all-round bowling effort and Hardik, who backed his 3/25 spell with a blistering unbeaten 33 off 17.
“The fast bowlers have done very well in the last 12 months or so,”
he said.
“We were challenged at times but overcoming those challenges will take us forward. Since Hardik’s comeback into this team, he’s been brilliant. Had a great IPL too. His batting qualities we all know, he has been brilliant with the bat since he came into the team.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan drew praises despite the defeat, having shown great fight while defending a fairly low total under the lights. Having already being plagued with injuries even before the competition’s start, with Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Wasim Jr. being ruled out, Babar’s men showed great fight, with Naseem, Shahnawaz Dahani and Haris Rauf keeping the Indian batters on the edge.
Naseem and Rauf cramped up on a day of extreme heat and humidity in Dubai, but both showed grit to complete their four-overs quota, with the former returning 2/27. Shadab Khan kept the scoring in check, conceding just 19 from his four over spell, while Nawaz bagged three crucial wickets.
