India skipper Virat Kohli hailed Team India’s “special win” against arch-rivals Pakistan in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 on Sunday.
Hardik Pandya’s all-round show helped India to defeat Pakistan by five wickets. Kohli, who was returning from a month-long break, also contributed with a well-made 35 off 34 balls.
The star batter lauded the team’s effort following the win over Pakistan.
“Special win on a special day,” he captioned the post on Instagram.
India pacer Mohammad Shami said it was a great match against Pakistan and congratulated the team for the win.
“Tonight it was a great match and victory Well played boy’s , congratulations for the win well done,” Shami said on Koo app.
Former India wicket-keeper batter Wriddhiman Saha hailed Hardik Pandya’s performance following India’s win over Pakistan.
“What a performance Team India ! Many congratulations,” he said on the Koo app.
Hardik was adjudged as ‘Man of the Match’ for his impeccable performance as India chased down 148 in the final over in Dubai. He scored 33* and took 3/25 with the ball.
Coming to the match, Pakistan were bundled out for 148 in 19.4 overs. Opener Mohammed Rizwan (43) and Iftikhar Ahmed (28) were the only ones who could contribute something decent with the bat. The pace and short-length deliveries of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/26), Hardik Pandya (3/25) and Arshdeep Singh (2/33) and Avesh Khan (1/19) blew away Pakistani batters and wickets fell at a regular rate.
Chasing 149, India lost KL Rahul for a duck in the very first over. After this, Virat Kohli (35) anchored the innings and formed a 49-run stand with skipper Rohit Sharma (12), who largely struggled at the other end. Twin strikes from Mohammed Nawaz, who took Sharma and Kohli’s wickets restricted India to 3/53.
Following this, a 36-run stand between Ravindra Jadeja and Suryakumar Yadav helped moving the scoreboard, before Suryakumar fell to debutant Naseem Shah for 18. A 52-run stand between Jadeja (35) and Hardik Pandya (33*) followed, which took India close to a win and in-form Pandya finished the proceedings with a six with two balls to spare, giving India a five-wicket win.
Nawaz (3/33) and Naseem Shah (2/27) bowled really well for Pakistan, though not enough to give them a win.
India will now lock horns with Hong Kong on Wednesday while Pakistan will face Hong Kong on Friday.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will lock horns in the third match of the tournament on Tuesday.
