Mohammad Rizwan's patient 71 and Mohammad Nawaz's whirlwind 20-ball 42 cameo helped Pakistan win the second round against India in Asia Cup 2022. India’s sloppy fielding became the villain of the match as Arshdeep dropped a sitter in the 18th over. After the dropped catch, Asif Ali went on to scored just 16 runs off eight deliveries to help Babar Azam-led side win the game by five wickets with one ball to spare.
Chasing a tricky total of 182, Pakistan lost their skipper Babar (14) early. Bishnoi got his wicket in the fourth over. While Rizwan anchored the run chase and did bulk of the scoring, Fakhar Zaman failed to even score at a 100 strike rate. Zaman scored just 15 runs from 18 deliveries before Yuzvendra Chahal got his wicket in the ninth over.
Like India promoted Ravindra Jadeja up the order to counter left-spinner in first game, Pakistan sent Nawaz at no.4 as two leg-spinners operated in the middle. The move did wonders for Pakistan as Nawaz went all guns blazing and flipped the game on his head. The third-wicket partnership helped Pakistan increase the scoring rate in the middle overs. The southpaw scored 42 runs from 20 deliveries including six fours and two sixes. He got out to Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 16th over. During the partnership, Rizwan completed his half-century in the 13th over.
In the next over, Rizwan got out in an attempt to clear the long-on boundary but Hardik Pandya's slower ball got the better of him. Bishnoi bowled the 18th over and almost got India the big wicket of Asif Ali for a duck but Arshdeep dropped a simple catch which turned out to be the turning point in the death overs.
After Bishnoi’s phenomenal over, Pakistan needed 26 runs in the last two overs. Bhuvneshwar leaked boundaries in the penultimate over. Sloppy fielding led to a boundary off the final ball of the over as well. The equation in the last over was simple for Pakistan but Arshdeep put up a fight. He got hit for a boundary off the second ball but followed it up with a dot ball and wicket of Asif (16). But Iftikhar Ahmed kept his cool and got a couple of runs off the penultimate delivery.
Earlier in the first innings, India got off to an electrifying start Rahul and Rohit shared a 54-run partnership in the powerplay overs and negated the threat posed by Pakistan pacers. In the last over of powerplay overs, Rohit got out trying to take on Haris Rauf. He scored 28 runs from 16 deliveries including three fours and two sixes. In the next over Rahul followed him to the dressing room. Shadab Khan got Rahul's wicket. He scored 28 runs from 20 deliveries including one four and two sixes.
Virat Kohli anchored the innings but wickets fell at the other end. Suryakumar Yadav got off to a good start but got out for 10-ball 13. Rishabh Pant looked out of touch and got out trying to play a rash reverse sweep shot off leg-spinner Shadab. Pandya did not continue where he left off and got out for a two-ball duck. Both Pant and Pandya got an earful when they returned to the dressing room.
Deepak Hooda struggled in the initial part of his innings but got a few boundaries. In the 18th over, Kohli got to his half-century from 36 deliveries in the 18th over. In the penultimate over, Hooda lost his wicket to Naseem Shah. In the final over, Rauf kept Kohli quiet with three dot balls in a row. Kohli got run out off the fourth ball. He scored 60 runs from 44 deliveries including four fours and one six. Off the last two balls Ravi Bishnoi swung his bat and Zaman erred twice to gift India two crucial boundaries. Bishnoi's late cameo helped India post 181/7.