Pakistan beat India in Asia Cup Super 4 thriller in Dubai

Gulf News

Pakistan gained sweet revenge over India tonight in a thrilling Super 4 encounter in the Asia Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The match went to the last over and Pakistan won by 5 wickets. Mr. Cricket UAE Anis Sajan and the Gulf News team discuss the action...  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/sport/cricket/as-it-happened-pakistan-beat-india-by-5-wickets-in-asia-cup-2022-super-4-clash-in-dubai-1.1662297347487  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #cricketnews #asiacup2022

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to Golf News Straight Back. It was India v Pakistan once again tonight

00:14at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. India won that last batch in a last over thriller

00:20but tonight Pakistan have gained revenge by winning by five wickets. This one also went

00:25to the last over. Mr Cricket UAE Anish Sajjan is back with us tonight. Anish,

00:29what did you make of that one? Thank you Imran. Hello Satish and hello Ashfaq Bhai and hello to

00:35all the lovely people who follow cricket on Golf News. Terrific game. Last Sunday we saw India on

00:41the winning side. Today we saw Pakistan on the winning side and you have to give credit to

00:45Pakistan. To be very honest in the break I felt India had 20 runs extra but credit to Pakistan,

00:51credit to Rizwan who once again showed that he along with Baban are the backbone of the team

00:55and you have to give it to Pakistan for winning this off.

00:59Shyam, India were forced into making several changes for this match.

01:03Rishabh Pant came in, Deepak Hooda, Ravi Bishnoi all because of the absence of all-rounder

01:10Ravindra Jadeja. He was injured. Did that upset the balance of the team?

01:15To a large extent I would say simply because for one thing, Ravindra Jadeja is an all-rounder.

01:22Not just an all-rounder, an all-rounder. Secondly, he is a left-hander. So when you take these

01:28things out of the equation, you don't have a like-for-like replacement. You have somebody

01:34like Axel Patel who is a lefty again but in terms of batting, he is not in the same league.

01:41So India would try to cover up too many holes there. You need a left-hander,

01:45you brought in Pants to cover that. You needed a bowler, so you brought in Hooda who can bowl

01:51a few overs. But unfortunately, he was never used at all because I don't think the pitch was

01:55conducive for it and I don't think Rohit Sharma was in any particular... I don't think he did

02:01have the liberty or the luxury of using him at any point because the match was sort of a knife

02:06edge. But he didn't want to accept when you need a spinner also. That is when you brought in

02:15Bishnoi. So Bishnoi, Hooda and Rishabh Pant covering up for one man, Ravindra Jadeja.

02:23Let's bring Ashfaq in. Ashfaq, congratulations, your team has won.

02:29Babar Azam, he won the toss, he decided to bowl first. The pitch looked like it would promise

02:34plenty of runs and it did. India posted 181 from their 20 overs. Did you feel that that would be a

02:40hard target to chase, Ash? It was definitely a hard target. But as you said, if India could score,

02:47Pakistan had plenty of betting lineup. You have seen in today's match that even though Babar Azam

02:53couldn't score runs, the surprise package was Nawaz. He stunned everybody. It was a surprise

03:00for everybody. He's the man of match today. For me, he's beautifully bowled 25 runs, one wicket

03:07in four overs. Restricted India after their blasting start against fast bowlers. India

03:14has good strategy against fast bowlers but Nawaz restricted them. Similarly, Pakistan opted to

03:21promote Nawaz because he's a very good player against spinners. So he smashed Indian spinners

03:27all around. So he's the new hero of Pakistan in today's match. 42 runs in 20 balls. It's amazing.

03:35He made the match basically with this one. And then you have other people, Asif and Khurshid

03:42who quite diligently finished the match. Yeah, it was good. Yeah, he did very good.

03:49Just bring Anis in again. Rahul and Sharma, they both looked like they turned the corner. They

03:54started the game really well. But then they both went for 28. Their form is still a concern, isn't it?

04:00I will be very honest. You know what? They assessed the conditions very well. They realized

04:04that this is a belter of a wicket. And they really took Pakistan bowlers by surprise. And they went

04:09after them. And India, by the power play, were almost 60 plus, even though they lost two wickets.

04:14But that's the way when you have good wickets, you can... The bowlers, you will lose wickets as long

04:19as the strike rates are good. And in the end, to be very honest, you have to give credit to the

04:24Pakistan spinners. Both Nawaz and Shadab Khan bowled well to get them back into the game.

04:29And now you can argue that India were 15-20 runs short because this wicket probably needed 200.

04:35But there are no ifs and buts in cricket. India had their moment, had... I won't use the word

04:40had. Ashdeep dropped a setter. So did Fakhar Zaman drop a catch in the end. So that evens out. But

04:47having said that, as our friend Ashfaq said, that the innings, rather the master stroke played by

04:53Babar Azam, you have to give credit to them to send Nawaz in. They copied it from... I would not

04:57use the word copied. They took a leaf out of Jadeja coming in last time. And he changed the game

05:01because 20 balls, 42 runs is what the tonic Pakistan required. True. Let's bring Shyam back in.

05:08Shyam, the match was stopped, I think, briefly during the chase when Pakistan's wicketkeeper

05:15Rizwan, he got an injury. But it didn't slow down India's momentum as Kohli, he went on to get

05:22another half century. That's his 32nd in his career. Has he finally regained his scoring touch?

05:29I would think so. But he is still nowhere near his best. But I would say he's 80 percent there

05:34and well on the way to reaching the peak of his powers.

05:39Because this is precisely the Kohli of the old. I mean, picking up singles, playing the

05:45balls into the gaps and getting the occasional boundary. And to me, that pick-up six or

05:52mid-wicket, that is vintage Kohli, actually. And you could see that he also realized that

05:58at that moment that he is where he used to be. Because when that six went up, he took his helmet

06:05off, looked up and he took the India pads, kissed it and resumed the innings.

06:13That's because I think even at that moment, he himself realized that he is back.

06:19He is back. He's back. But Babar Azam is still struggling, Ash. He went for just 14 today.

06:26And a lot was expected from Zamaan. But he also just got 15, I think 15 runs.

06:32Those two just couldn't get going. You must have been fearing the worst early on, no?

06:36When that was happening?

06:38Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Imran, it's worrisome. And Babar, Fakhar Zamaan has been absolutely

06:45stopping the fielding as well today. Apart from Fakhar's catch and miss field, Pakistan's fielding

06:51has been superb today. They got a run out at 180 degree and didn't drop any of the catches.

06:56So superb fielding apart from Fakhar. But he is not getting runs. This is worrisome. But

07:02as I said, Pakistan has plenty of firepower. You'll see after that Nawaz's new find,

07:08then you have Iftikhar who can hit the ball, you can have Asif, you have Pushtin,

07:13and then you have Shadab. So batting lineup is there. Even if they fail, I think it's a blessing

07:19in disguise that the guys at the middle are getting exposed and getting runs. They're getting

07:23the chance to play. This is a good news for Pakistan. If Babar Azam scored well and good,

07:28if he doesn't score, you have the players in the middle order to score. That's a good sign.

07:35At the halfway stage, I think India had posted 93 for three wickets while Pakistan were, I think,

07:4276 for two. They were struggling to chase that. Do you think the conditions,

07:47Anis, had something to do with that? Was it the pitch or was it the older ball?

07:52Well, we have to be very honest, batting second definitely is an advantage. But like you

07:56mentioned, the conditions did not change. There was a dew, there's no doubt about it.

08:00So it's not easy to probably feel the ball or grip the ball. But you have to give credit

08:06to Nawaz, who changed the whole face of the game. Two overs changed the game. I believe the one

08:10where he went after the leggy Chahal, buried him for 19 runs. And then the 19th over,

08:17where you say that Asif Ali went after our Bhuvneshwar Kumar, where he was giving a lot of

08:23wit. And having said that, I remember the same Asif Ali had clobbered our Bhuvneshwar Kumar for

08:2922 runs in the same cricket ground in the Asia Cup in 2018. And he was happy taking him on. You

08:34never know what would have happened had the catch been taken in the earlier over. But that's the

08:38beauty of this game. Sometimes you might have a good day, sometimes you might have a bad day.

08:42And the most experienced bowler of the Indian team went for 19 runs rather than 21 runs.

08:48Shah, in fact, just latching onto the back of what Anis has just said,

08:52between the 10th and the 15th overs, Pakistan managed to get 60 runs on the board. And that

08:57really got the back into the game. Do you think that's where India let it slip today?

09:03I would say more than India let it slip. Pakistan grabbed the match by the scruff of the neck

09:08through Mohammad Nawaz. Because that innings, to me, was the game changer today. Because

09:15traditionally, Pakistan has heavily reliant on Mohammad Rizwan and Baburao Assam. And as a

09:22consequence, what happens is the mid-loader tends to lag a bit and they lose the match there. For a

09:29change, there was a different tactic and Mohammad Nawaz came up. And if you look back, perhaps this

09:34is the fastest Pakistan has scored in this phase of the match. And what a time to score. And perhaps,

09:41I think, this would force a rethink in their strategies in the future by Pakistan.

09:48Yeah. In fact, India were on the back foot later on in the game and they desperately needed a

09:53wicket. And then when Nawaz was out for 42, I think at that point, many probably felt that

09:59India had the advantage. Ash, did you feel that there was the game over when Nawaz went? And then

10:04especially when Rizwan was also out, did you feel that was the chance gone for Pakistan?

10:09I think Imran, the 15th over when Chahal was hit, it was a big over for Pakistan because

10:17it's a key spinner and he got it for nearly 20 runs, 16 or 17 runs in that over. That changed

10:27the complexion of the game. And when Nawaz got out, personally, I was not worried because I knew

10:35there was Asif Ali, there is Khushdir Khan, there is this guy Ibtekhal, Shahdaab, who can hit.

10:42Till 15th over, Pakistan kept the wicket. That saved them at the end. You see, in the last

10:49four over, three wickets, four wickets fell. But Pakistan was still in safe hands, still two more

10:54players to come. So keeping wicket was the key. They saved the wicket, scored run, and they just

11:00went after and just completed the target in the last over. That was wonderful.

11:07So Ash, this victory puts Pakistan in pole position for a place in the final of the Asia Cup.

11:13Can they do it? Can they win this?

11:16Well, it's anybody's game. They are well placed. But India is not an easy team.

11:22So anything can happen. You can see the last two matches, the matches,

11:26the finishes on the second to last ball of the innings, first match also the second to last

11:31ball of the innings, this match also second to last ball of the innings. They are really, really,

11:35the matches are going to the wires. I mean, it could be anybody's game. But what we hope is

11:41interesting, good match, not one sided match. Anish and Shaan, India's chances?

11:49Well, Imran, very honestly, this group now has all good teams, whether it's India, Pakistan,

11:56Afghanistan, Sri Lanka. Now both India and Afghanistan are under the palm of losing their

12:00first match. India play Sri Lanka day after tomorrow after a break, day's break. So that

12:05will give some time for them to regroup and to come back. They've had a good over Sri Lanka in

12:09the last probably five, six years, but Sri Lanka, I can't remember having won any game except when

12:15they, India went to Sri Lanka with a half side team during the COVID period. So India will fancy

12:21their chances against Sri Lanka. But again, Afghanistan is a team, a dangerous team. We'll

12:26have to see how it goes about because then Pakistan play Afghanistan. So it will be too

12:30much to predict whether India will make it or Pakistan, but Pakistan will have their hopes high.

12:35They take on Afghanistan. If they beat Afghanistan, then they are as good as true.

12:39Okay, Sharm, you can have the last word and then we'll call it.

12:43Yeah, I'm still fancying an India-Pakistan final because I, like I said yesterday about

12:50Afghanistan's chances, they might run India and Pakistan close, but in the end,

12:55India and Pakistan will prevail. But I'm more than Afghanistan. I am actually interested in

13:01Sri Lanka and especially in the way they play the last two games and the way all the batsmen

13:07contributed, because if they are not getting, you might not find somebody contributing half

13:12century or more. Everybody hitting at the 30, but everybody, everybody scores. Everybody pitches in

13:17a 30 and you are home and right. That's what happened against Bangladesh. That's happened

13:21against, what do I, against yesterday, against Afghanistan. And yesterday during the press

13:26conference, I asked him like, 175, are you, did you think you'll make it? He said, always,

13:34always. We have complete trust in our batsmen and that was an eminently chasable total. That

13:40was exactly what he said. So, and they did it. So they are on the upswing. Their morale is good.

13:46Their confidence is good. So I would be wary of them, but still I would fancy an India-Pakistan

13:52final. Yeah. So I think that's what everyone wants to see. I think we'll leave it there,

13:58guys. We're all a nervous wreck after that 3-0 match. We all need to go and catch our breath

14:03back. In the meantime, head to golfnews.com for the latest news, reviews, videos, and much more.

14:09Thanks to the guys and see you all next time.

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