The day started on a sombre note, with the Indian public divided on whether India should have participated in the Asia Cup, more specifically in the match against Pakistan.
As the players stepped out for the national anthem, the imagery was striking, two countries who were at war, standing next to each other, ready to compete on the cricket field. As the Indian national anthem played, the stadium echoed with the tune, camera zoomed in on skipper Suryakumar Yadav, who sang every word with conviction, with his eyes shut.
With Pakistan winning the toss and choosing to bat — they managed 127/9 finally — Hardik Pandya opened the bowling proceedings. The first delivery went down the leg side and the umpire signalled wide. The very second got India the first breakthrough. Opener Saim Ayub, playing an out-swinger, handed a catch to Jasprit Bumrah at point.
The second wicket fell in the very next over bowled by India’s premier pacer Bumrah. Pandya returned the favour to Bumrah by catching Mohammad Haris square on the leg side. It wasn’t an easy catch. Pandya covered some distance as Haris top-edged the delivery.
Only two deliveries later, Bumrah struck Fakhar Zaman on the pad. The batter found no respite against an in-swinging yorker. Zaman went upstairs, the TV flashed ‘NOT OUT’ in bold. Fakhar and Sahibzada Farhan managed to get a bit of a run flow, only for Axar Patel to strike in the eighth over.
Again, in the 10th over the captain, Salman Agha, in an attempt to sweep an outside off delivery, top-edged to Abhishek Sharma at square-leg. Pakistan had only mustered 49 runs, but were four wickets down in 10 overs.
Only two overs later, it was Kuldeep Yadav’s turn to do the damage. While he dropped Hasan Nawaz in the 13th over, he produced another opportunity in the next delivery, the top-edged shot finding the safe hands of Axar. What could have been the hat-trick wicket had Kuldeep held on to the first catch, Nawaz was trapped plumbed by a googly and returned to the pavilion, following an unsuccessful review.
The Indian bowlers continued to wreak havoc as Kuldeep picked up his third wicket of the match. In an attempt to hit a big shot, Farhan sent it up in the air and Pandya displayed great athleticism as he ran to his left and took an overhead catch at long-on.
It was Varun Chakravarty’s turn next to make a dent into an already crumbling Pakistan batting line-up. Faheem Ashraf missed a reverse sweep and as the Indian team roared for an appeal, the umpire’s finger went up and the crowd went wild. It was Sufitan Muqeem next in line, holing out to a delivery by Bumrah.
With nine wickets down and only 100 or so runs on the scoreboard, it was all down to Shaheen Afridi’s pinch hitting to score as many runs as possible in the final few overs. After hitting four sixes and a dropped catch when Tilak Varma dove and missed, Afridi returned not out with a crucial 33-run cameo off 16 balls, the second highest score in the innings.
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