Muhammad Rizwan scored a brilliant 71 as Pakistan beat India by five wickets in Asia Cup 2022 Super 4 match in Dubai on Sunday.
After being asked to bat first by Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma got India off to a quickfire start. The duo added 54 runs for the opening wicket before the latter top edged a delivery from Harris Rauf to Khushdil Shah who nearly made a hash of it.
KL Rahul (28) perished soon after as he holed out to Mohammad Nawaz at long-on off Shadab Khan.
Mohammad Nawaz then got into the act by dismissing Suryakumar Yadav (13) top edging to Asif Ali at square leg.
Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya fell cheaply as India were reduced to 131/5. Virat Kohli reached his half century in style by whipping Mohammad Hasnain for a six over deep midwicket.
Kohli along with Deepak Hooda added 37 runs for the sixth wicket before the latter miscued a big hit from Naseem Shah to Nawaz at wide long on.
Former skipper Kohli’s fine knock of 60 ended when he was run out by a direct hit from Asif Ali in the final over.
However comedy of errors by Fakhar Zaman in the boundary allowed Ravi Bishnoi to score 2 fours, as India reached 181/7 in their 20 overs.
Chasing 182, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam’s poor run continued as he chipped a delivery from
Ravi Bishnoi straight to Rohit Sharma at mid-wicket.
Rizwan along with Zaman added 41 runs for the second wicket before the latter (15) holed out to Kohli at long on off Yuzvendra Chahal.
Mohammad Nawaz who was promoted at No 4 featured in a crucial third wicket stand of 73 runs alongside wicket keeper Rizwan before Bhuvneshwar Kumar broke the stand by dismissing Nawaz caught at long off for breezy 20 ball-42.
Hardik Pandya then brought The Men In Blue back into the contest by dismissing the well set Rizwan (71) caught at long off boundary.
Asif Ali got a reprieve when Arshdeep Singh dropped a relatively easy catch off Bishnoi. Ali capitalized on the opportunity as he along with Khushdil Shah smashed Bhuvneshwar for 19 runs in the penultimate over.
With 7 needed off the final Arshdeep dismissed Ali leg before wicket for 16, but Iftikhar Ahmed hit the winning runs by slapping a low full toss down the ground for two runs as they overhauled the target with one ball to spare.