Both the teams were playing with each other in ODI format after about four and a half years.
When the match started, Pakistan's pace trio Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah not only troubled the Indian top order with their balls as expected, but when they removed the first four batsmen very cheaply one by one, the entire The hopes of the Indian camp seemed dashed.
If Ishaan Kishan and Hardik Pandya did not play a century partnership for the fifth wicket, controlling the fall of wickets, then the Indian team, which was all out in the 49th over, would have returned to the pavilion somewhere earlier.
In the India-Pakistan match of the Asia Cup, even though the match was finally called off due to rain, but India's innings was very fluctuating. The Indian innings got relief from the century partnership between Ishaan Kishan and Hardik Pandya, but most of the talk is about the crumbling of Team India's top order.
The Indian batsmen once again had no answer to the swinging balls of left-arm swing bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi. Afridi first sent back Rohit and Virat to the pavilion, then when he returned again, he made Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja walk to the pavilion.
The 23-year-old Afridi bowled 44 dot balls during his 10 overs and during this he also became the first bowler to take the wickets of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the same innings.
Shaheen Shah Afridi said after the match, "I tried to give the team the start it needed with the new ball. I took two important wickets in the beginning and then dismissed Hardik Pandya when he was in full swing. Match completed It did not happen. Had it been completed, the result would have been in our hands."
He said, "My attempt from the beginning was to bowl more dot balls in the right area so that the batsman tries to hit the ball to score runs. I was trying to swing but initially it did not work, then in Tried a combination of swing and out swing which worked."
When Shaheen Afridi was asked who among Rohit and Virat enjoyed taking wickets more, he named both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
On Pakistan's pace trio, Afridi said, "We try to bowl in partnership. Haris Rauf tries to intimidate the batsman with his bouncers and pace. Naseem Shah and I focus on swing and what combination to bowl." We do."
In the end, he said, "If you bowl more with the red ball, then it is easier to bowl with the white ball. It is the effort of the three bowlers that the fewer runs we get the opposition out, the easier it is for our team." Will happen.
Along with Afridi, 20-year-old Naseem Shah and 29-year-old Haris Rauf shared all 10 wickets for India and with this an Asia Cup record was created. This is the first time when fast bowlers have taken all 10 wickets of a team in the Asia Cup.
what happened that the Indian top order faltered in front of the Pakistani bowlers?
Before the match, many cricket legends were saying that along with Afridi and Rauf, Shah's bowlers will have to be managed in the first 10 overs because in the middle overs, this pace battery is not as dangerous as with the new ball.
Afridi was constantly bowling fast and swinging balls. The better he was swinging out, the more powerful he was putting in swing. Captain Rohit Sharma had started well but in the fifth over of the match, he was bowled by Afridi.
On returning after the break due to rain, Afridi bowled out swing the first three balls on which Rohit could not score any runs and then the last ball of this over was in swing which after falling on the off stump came inwards and hit Rohit's bat. And coming out of the gap between the pads, it went straight into the wicket.
Afridi also dismissed Virat Kohli in his next over. Virat tried to play the ball on the off side by going on the back foot but the ball took the inner edge of the bat and hit the leg stump.
A major weakness of the Indian top order has been to play left-arm fast and swing bowlers and the same was seen with Afridi's deliveries. If we talk about records, since 2021 till now, Rohit has been out for the sixth time and Virat for the fourth time at the hands of a left-arm bowler.
Shreyas Iyer returned to the team after a long time and made a good start and scored 14 runs in eight balls, but in the 10th over, he was caught by Fakhar Zaman while trying to hit Haris Rauf's short ball over midwicket.
After this, rain once again created disruption in the match. Due to rain during the 12th over, the game was stopped for about 20 minutes and when it started, Shubman Gill, who was stuck at one end but was batting very slowly, was also sent back to the pavilion by Rauf.
Team India's opener Shubman Gill did not understand the game plan against Pakistan. This year, Shubman has scored a double century, two centuries and a half century with the bat and in ODIs, he is batting at an average of over 60.
Of course, this was Shubman Gill's first match against Pakistan and he was clearly getting worried in front of the swinging balls. Pakistan's pace battery had brought a plan for them but they did not see any preparation to play this trio.
By the way, let us also tell here that Gill's bat, who scored 890 runs including three centuries in IPL 2023 played on Indian pitches, was silent in front of Australia's fast bowlers on his own land in March this year. In two of the three matches of that series, Gill was dismissed by Mitchell Starc. Stark is also a left arm fast bowler.
Before the match, Rohit Sharma said, "We have to understand the conditions very well, it is not a T20 match so we should be aggressive but while on the pitch, the batsman has to adapt to the conditions and stay there for long duration because It's a 50-over match."
Rohit also said, "There are a lot of experienced players in the team. If you know the game plan, then you also know what the mindset should be against a good team."
However, neither in the batting of Rohit himself nor in the top order batsmen, there was any glimpse of what the captain said during the match.
Also Read: Babar Azam or Virat Kohli – who has the upper hand
Give Your Feedback