Virender Sehwag heaps praise on Hardik Pandya for his brilliant show with both bat and ball, as India defeat Pakistan in the opening match.
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Team India have prevailed against arch-rivals Pakistan in the first ‘Group A’ match of Asia Cup 2022 by 5 wickets, in what was an edge-of-a-seat thriller between the two sides after quite a many recent clashes.
A 52-run partnership off mere 29 deliveries for the fifth wicket between Hardik Pandya (33* off 17) and Ravindra Jadeja (35 off 29) was instrumental in India chasing the Pakistani total down with couple of balls to spare.
En route a rather modest target of 148 runs, team India were handed a huge blow early on, as KL Rahul chopped the delivery by debutant Naseem Shah on to the stumps while facing his very first delivery.
Both Rohit Sharma (12 off 18) and Virat Kohli (35 off 34) looked everything but assured and fluent during their respective stays at the crease, as the wicket continued to help the seamers, while also appearing to be a bit two-paced from the outside.
Post both the star batters’ dismissal, India continued to play nearly at run-a-ball, while struggling to despatch the Pakistani bowlers for boundaries for most parts of their innings.
With 59 runs required off the final six Overs, India just managed to keep up with the required run rate till the very end, as Hardik and Jadeja paved the way for an Indian victory with the former hitting the winning Six.
Virender Sehwag heaps praise on Hardik Pandya
Earlier, a praiseworthy effort from the Indian pace bowling attack meant that Pakistan were skittled for 147 in 19.5 Overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-0-26-4) and Hardik Pandya (4-0-25-3) were the pick of the bowlers, as they deployed the short-pitched deliveries to dismiss almost whole of Pakistan’s top and middle order line-up.
Former India opening batter Virender Sehwag took to his social media handle to praise Hardik for his brilliant all-round performance, which fittingly earned him the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
Sehwag also hailed the contributions made by Bhuvneshwar, Kohli, and Jadeja, as he exclaimed enjoying a close India-Pakistan game after a long time.
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