Dubai: Pakistan overcame odds, bad starts in each innings as well as late drama to beat India by five wickets in their Super Four match of the Asia Cup 2022 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium yesterday. Set a target of a more than a sizable 182, Pakistan lost their captain Babar Azam early and Fakhar Zaman couldn’t do much either.

With both men back in the dugout and the chase going awry fast, Babar put his thinking hat on played the masterstroke of promoting Mohammad Nawaz up the order. Nawaz and Rizwan formed a crucial 73-run partnership for the third wicket that brought Pakistan back in the game. Nawaz’s boundary-laden 42 off 20 was pivotal as it helped Pakistan keep the required run rate in check. That said, the importance of Rizwan’s 71 off 51 cannot be understated. But the diminutive keeper-batter couldn’t finish and it needed late cameos from Khushdil Shah (14* off 11) and Asif Ali (16 off 8) for Pakistan to seal the match.

Earlier, the Green Shirts had a great start to the evening as they won the battle of coin flips but everything went south for them for a while after that. Indian openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma set the tone for the night with a blistering 28 (each) a laid a foundation on which Virat Kohli, well and truly back in form, capitalised to help India post 181 for 7.

Published in The Daily National Courier, September, 05 2022

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