T20 Asia Cup: India defeats Pakistan by 5 wickets 

India beat Pakistan by five wickets with 2 balls remaining in a sensational clash that lasted till the last hour in Dubai.   

Chasing 148 for victory, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja made the day for India when Pakistan bowlers had shown the doors to the Indian key batters -Kohli, Rohit Sharm, Suryakumar, and KL Rahul early.   

Jadeja, who hit 35, and Pandya put on a key stand of 52 as India reached their target with two balls to spare. 

Jadeja built India's inning after Pakistan made an impressive comeback with Naseem Shah’s fast bowling. 

Muhammad Nawaz took the wicket of set Virat Kohli and later bowled out Jadeja in the last over to keep Pakistan in the match. 

Pandya hit a six at the fourth ball of the last over that snatched the match from Pakistan. 

Nawaz bagged three wickets while Naseem managed to take two scalps.

Earlier, India won the toss and was elected to field. Indian fast bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pandya shared seven wickets to set up victory for India in their opening match of the tournament after they bowled out Pakistan for 147.

Pakistan open batter Mohammed Rizwan was the top-scorer for Pakistan with a calm 43 off 42 balls. Pakistan, without its key paceman Shaheen Shah Afridi, gave a debut to fast bowler Naseem Shah and also preferred Shahnawaz Dahani over fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain in the team. 

Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed and Khushdil Shah failed to read short balls and threw their wickets cheaply. 

Short balls kept haunting Pakistan against the arch-rivals as the next three batters also fell on short balls. 

Shahnawaz Dahani raced Pakistan's score in the end by scoring 16 off six balls tied up with two towering sixes. 

India’s score card as followed:

INDIA INNING (19.4 overs)

Rohit Sharma (c) 12 runs in 18 balls

KL Rahul duck on first ball

Virat Kohli 35 runs in 34 balls

Ravindra Jadeja 35 runs in 29 balls

Suryakumar Yadav 18 runs in 18 balls 

Hardik Pandya (not out) 33 runs in 17 balls

Dinesh Karthik (not out) one run in three balls

Extras: (ib 5, w 9)      14       

TOTAL: 148/5 runs in 19.4 overs         

Fall of wickets: 

1-1 (KL Rahul, 0.2 over), 2-50 (Rohit Sharma, 7.6 over), 3-53 (Virat Kohli, 9.1 over), 4-89 (Suryakumar Yadav, 14.2 over), 5-141 (Ravindra Jadeja, 19.1 over)

BOWLING

Mohammad Nawaz got 3 wickets against 33 runs in 3.4 overs 

Naseem Shah got 2 wickets against 27 runs in 4 overs 

Shahnawaz Dahani got 0 wicket against 29 runs in 4 overs 

Haris Rauf got no wicket and gave 35 runs in 4 overs 

Shadab Khan gave 19 runs in 4 overs

Pakistan’s score card as followed:

PAKISTAN INNINGS (20 overs maximum)

Mohammad Rizwan 43 runs in 42 balls

Babar Azam (c) 10 runs in 9 balls 

Fakhar Zaman 10 runs in 6 balls 

Iftikhar Ahmed  28 runs in 22 balls 

Khushdil Shah 2 runs in 7 balls 

Shadab Khan 10 runs in 9 balls 

Asif Ali 9 runs in 7 balls 

Mohammad Nawaz 1 run in 3 balls 

Haris Rauf not out) 13 runs in 7 balls 

Naseem Shah 0 run in 1 ball 

Shahnawaz Dahani 16 runs in 6 balls 

Extras: (b 1, w 4)      5       

TOTAL: 147 runs in 19.5 overs         

Fall of wickets: 

1-15 (Babar Azam, 2.4 over), 2-42 (Fakhar Zaman, 5.5 over), 3-87 (Iftikhar Ahmed, 12.1 over), 4-96 (Mohammad Rizwan, 14.1 over), 5-97 (Khushdil Shah, 14.3 over), 6-112 (Asif Ali, 16.3 over), 7-114 (Mohammad Nawaz, 17.1 over), 8-128 (Shadab Khan, 18.2 over), 9-128 (Naseem Shah, 18.3 over), 10-147 (Shahnawaz Dahani, 19.5 overs)

BOWLING

Bhuvneshwar Kumar got 4 wickets against 26 runs in 4 overs 

Arshdeep Singh got 2 wickets against 33 runs in3.5 overs 

Hardik Pandya got 3 wickets against 25 runs in 4 overs 

Avesh Khan got 1 wicket against 19 runs in 2 overs 

Yuzvendra Chahal gave 32 runs in 4 overs, and 

Ravindra Jadeja gave 11 runs in 2 overs 

India wins toss to bowl first 

Earlier, India won the toss and decided to bowl first in the T20 Asia Cup 2022 match at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday evening.

The Dubai stadium has a cricketing capacity of 25,000 while millions of fans of Pakistan and India are going to watch the match via digital streams.

It is the 10th time in cricket's shortest format that the fierce rivals Pakistan and India are going to clash.

Pakistan Squad:

Babar Azam (c ), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Khushdil Shah, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, and Shahnawaz Dahani.

India Squad:

Rohit Sharma (C ), KL Rahul, Vrat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik (W), Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Yuzvendra Chahal.