Twitter Reactions: Cool and Calm Hardik Pandya's all-round prowess takes India home in a thriller against Pakistan

The Indian all-rounder duo of Jadeja and Pandya anchored India's innings in the thrilling contest.

By Vaishnavi Thiagarajan Iyer

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Hardik Pandya
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Hardik Pandya (Photo Source: Twitter)

Thrill, action, and adventure – the India vs Pakistan clash was a complete rollercoaster. An action-packed evening set the Asia Cup stage on fire when the two arch-rivals met at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The Indian bowlers were on fire and utilized the pitch brilliantly, which was later followed by the Indian batters doing their bit as India clinched an epic victory.

The game started with Rohit Sharma winning the toss and putting Babar Azam’s men to bat first. Pakistan faced an early blow when Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s bouncer sent Babar walking back to the pavilion. After giving away some boundaries, Avesh Khan finally found his moment of redemption when he bagged his first wicket in the form of Fakhar Zaman. This broke Pakistan’s momentum as they ended up scoring 43/2 in the powerplay.

It was a challenge for Pakistan to move further from thereon, as they lost two crucial wickets and Rizwan’s game had slowed down too. Iftikhar Ahmed hit two fours and a six in an attempt to stitch the innings, but Hardik Pandya did the trick and dismissed him as soon as he got going. The all-rounder came back for his next over and dismissed both Rizwan and Khushdil Shah within three deliveries to provide India with another breakthrough.

It was then the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/26) wreaked havoc by picking three wickets within two overs at the death. Arshdeep Singh, the newbie, also looked in good touch as he dismissed Mohammad Nawaz to join the celebrations. It was Shahnawaz Dahani who took a toll on both Arshdeep and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the final two overs. He helped Pakistan to post a decent total of 147 runs before Indian bowlers dished out the lineup on the penultimate ball of the innings.

India survived a nervous start before claiming the massive victory

The Indian top-order had crumbled like a cookie when the two sides last met. And India faced a major blow this time as well when KL Rahul was dismissed off just the second ball, for a golden duck by debutant Naseem Shah. It was Virat Kohli who gained the rhythm quickly after facing an early dismissal scare. He kept finding the gaps and sent the ball towards the fence to keep the scoreboard ticking.

Mohammad Nawaz dismissed the Indian skipper after being hit for a massive six and Rohit Sharma was the second batter to walk out. Nawaz returned for his next over and struck again to dismiss Kohli, who seemed to have gained form. Ravindra Jadeja was sent up the order, and the move worked for India as he, alongside Suryakumar Yadav, got the game going to cover up the chase.

Yadav’s wicket brought Pandya into the game as the all-rounder duo anchored India’s innings. The two, who struggled a bit to hit the big shots, shared a brilliant 52-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Two India all-rounders, both Gujaratis – a mindblowing masterclass was guaranteed. Jadeja bagged 10 runs off his bat off the 18th over and Pandya bagged 14 runs off the 19th over to cut down the chase massively.

Just when it looked like the duo would claim seven runs that were needed off the final over, Nawaz struck for the third time to dish out Jadeja on the first delivery. Dinesh Karthik passed over the strike to Pandya, who smashed a beautiful six to finish off the chase in style. First with the ball, then with the bat- it was Hardik Pandya’s day out as India won the game by five wickets.

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Asia Cup 2023Pakistan