India rode on a strong bowling performance to defeat arch-rivals Pakistan by five wickets in their Twenty20 international clash of the Asia Cup at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here yesterday.
Both teams struggled to bat on a greenish wicket with uneven bounce. The Indian bowlers justified captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s decision to field first by bundling out Pakistan for a mere 83 runs in 17.3 overs.
This was the third-lowest total by Pakistan in T20 cricket. Another interesting stat was that not a single six was hit in the match—only the fifth time in T20 international history.
The Indian batsmen then braved some excellent bowling by the Pakistan pacers to overhaul the target in 15.3 overs.
Virat Kohli top-scored for India with 49. The Delhi lad put on a 68-run stand with Yuvraj Singh (14 not out) to take the match away from Pakistan.
Kohli, who was adjudged man-of-the-match, was unlucky to be given out leg-before just one run short of his half-century off the bowling of Momamed Sami. Television replays later showed that the ball had taken the edge of the bat before hitting the pad.
Mohamed Amir had figures of 3/18 while Sami (2/16) gave him good support. Mohamed Irfan (0/16) also bowled well although he did not manage to get a wicket.
Defending a measly total, the Pakistan fast bowlers showed their true pedigree with a brave effort.
Amir gave Pakistan a glimmer of hope, striking early blows. He removed Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane in the opening over before either batsman had opened their respective accounts.
Amir was unlucky not to get a favourable leg-before decision off the very first ball of the Indian innings. The left-armer bowled a superb yorker which moved in slightly to hit Rohit on the front leg. The umpire however, was unmoved by the jubilant Pakistani appeals.
Amir made amends in the next ball which moved sharply in after pitching on a good length, beating Rohit with pace and movement to trap him plumb in front.
The 23-year-old left-arm fast bowler next trapped the other opener, Rahane, leg-before just two balls later with a beautiful delivery that slanted across the batsman before moving sharply in after pitching.
In his next over, Amir fooled Suresh Raina with some deceptive movement as Wahab Riaz grabbed an easy catch at mid-on.
But if the sizeable Pakistan contingent among the spectators nurtured any hopes of a strong comeback, it was quickly dashed as Kohli and Yuvraj took charge.
The duo were regularly beaten by the movement and variable bounce, but survived some close calls to take India slowly but surely towards victory.
Kohli and Hardik Pandya went back in quick succession towards the end. But Dhoni joined Yuvraj in the middle to guide India to victory with more than four overs overs to spare.
Earlier, Pandya bagged a three-wicket haul as India bundled out Pakistan for a meagre total. Pandya returned figures of 3/8 while fellow pacers Ashish Nehra (1/20) and Jasprit Bumrah (1/8) also made good use of the uneven bounce on a greenish wicket.
Ravindra Jadeja (2/11) also bowled well.
Sarfraz Ahmad was the top-scorer for Pakistan with 25. Only two other batsmen managed to post double figures.
The Pakistani batsmen compounded their own misery by some poor shot selection and shoddy running between the wickets which led to a couple of run outs.
Kohli admitted that the conditions were tough. “It wasn’t an easy wicket to bat, I wasn’t happy with myself in the last game, where I went too hard at the ball. But I had to respect the conditions, I made mistakes in the last innings but I dug in this time
“I would like to congratulate Amir for the way he bowled, I actually congratulated him while he was bowling. It was amazing to play such a spell. Counter-attacking is the game I play, that’s why I bat at number 3 but sometimes you have to respect the conditions and play that way. It is very important to be able to change your shot at the last moment in such conditions... you need to be switched on mentally, stay calm and relaxed,” Kohli said.
Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi blamed his team’s batting for the loss. “We have played so much cricket recently, we should have read the pitch. We did not play according to the pitch. If we lose 4-5 batsmen in the first six overs we can’t score 140. We had to read the situation, Kohli was an example, and Yuvi... If we had survived the fast bowlers there wasn’t much turn on the pitch for their spinners,” he said.
Indian skipper Dhoni praised team effort. “We are a team that loves to play aggressive cricket but this pushes us to respect the conditions. I am happy we managed to restrict them to 83 runs. A few more runs and the game was on... The fast bowlers did well but even after that we took wickets at regular intervals which is crucial to stop runs in this format. We have to be switched on in the field, that is one department where you can guarantee performance, one run out can take the game away from the opposition,. It was good all-round show.”