‘India vs Pakistan’- a title intriguing enough to start some of the most heated arguments of the world and it gets even spicier when you add just one more word to it – ‘cricket’! When it is the Men’s T20 Asia Cup, the tournament celebrated intimately among the Asian teams in the world of international cricket for the world to enjoy, the face-off between these two teams becomes the center of all attention.
One such match was held on 04 September 2022 in Dubai in the ‘Super Four’ stage where Pakistan beat the arch-rival by 5 wickets with 1 ball to go. That bold phrase of the previous line has all the nail-biting moments summed up together. How? Let’s dig in to find out.
India Scored 181 with Virat Kohli’s Half Century
181 runs of just 20 overs is not a child’s play in the first place, it’s definitely a match-winning score, unless, of course, your opponent plays a tad better to beat even that. Secondly, in this short format of the game, almost every player is used as a baller, along with the seasoned ones, to experiment and bring a break with something unexpected.
The Indian cricket team, especially the batsmen, knew very well that scoring as high a score as possible against Pakistan- was their best way to ensure victory. They could not rely on the ballers as much as they could rely on the batsmen. Surely, they would want to bat first and so they got to.
Virat Kohli Revived His Batting Charisma!
Virat Kohli has, more often than not, been a very reliable batsman for the Indian cricket team. In this match, he scored a magnificent half-century. The 50 runs came from just 36 balls. He scored 60 runs from 44 balls in total and this glorious inning was graced with 5 boundaries– four 4’s and one 6, while the strike rate was 136.36.
Virat was not in his best form before the tournament began, but he surely was looking forward to a strong comeback and what else could be a better way to show that the former Indian captain is a horse of the long run?
This show-stopper inning came to an unfortunate end when Virat left the field after a runout. Any batsman will be a few steps into the podium in his mind to pick up that ‘Man of the Match’ title with such a score by himself and by the combined team performance in a T20 International cricket match.
‘Team India’ Roared! Loud Enough?
Not only Virat but also captain Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul played great innings with each scoring 28 runs of 27 and 34 balls respectively. Each of them hit two 6’s. Rohit had a brilliant strike rate of 175.00 with three 4’s in the inning, and Rahul’s strike rate was 140.00 with one boundary in the inning.
India’s innings was a very promising one, yes. And when it comes to even an ‘expected batting total’ in a T20i match, the ballers have a very heavy burden to carry on their shoulders. The Pakistani Cricket team was no different here. The ballers are surely of great class & talent, but their charisma was just not enough to outshine the Indian batsmen in this particular match.
Mohammad Nawaz Shone as Pakistan’s Match-Winner
The Pakistani cricket team knows very well that their best bait against India is their outstanding ballers, but this particular match was really not a ballers’ delight for it favored all the batsmen only. While India scored a whooping 181, Pakistan didn’t hesitate for a moment to put up their best fight and scored 182 in 19.5 balls having 5 wickets left to spare.
Mohammad Nawaz’s Match-Winning All-Round Performance
After taking 1 wicket with the ball, Mohammad Nawaz entertained the audience, while giving the Indian ballers a nightmare, with the bat. He scored 42 runs off 20 balls with a strike rate of 210.00. His inning had six 4’s and two 6’s. He gave away his wicket in a catch after that match-winning score. But before leaving the field, he made sure the ‘Man of the Match’ title had been snatched away from Virat’s dream, at least in that match.
An interesting point must be mentioned here. Every time India and Pakistan face each other on the international cricket front, speculations on various points are heard or read everywhere. There are some specific batsmen or some specific ballers to look out for. But nobody seemed to foresee Mohammad Nawaz could actually turn out to be a match-winner. That’s why it’s said- You never know with cricket!
A Team Effort to the Victory!
Nawaz’s efforts were strongly supported by his teammate Mohammad Rizwan. Rizwan scored 71 of just 51 balls- the highest score of the match by a single player- and he too struck six 4’s and two 6’s. The match got to its true nail-biting moment when 17.2 overs of the Pakistani innings were balled and the score was 150, meaning- Pakistan needed 32 runs out of 16 balls. In those 16 balls, 2 reviews were called – one by each team- both struck down.
Winning a match is never a one-man or even a two-man journey, it’s always a team effort. Although all the members of each of the two teams put up their best show in this match, Pakistani batsmen played in a little more balanced way for they kept the score high while also staying rooted to the crease, giving the Indian ballers a run for their money. With the sacrifice of only half of the batting squad, the Pakistani cricket team brought their desired victory over the arch-rival in that match!
It’s no news to anyone that the Indian cricket team has always been one of the strongest if not the strongest, batting squads in the world- regardless of the result of the match. On the other hand, the Pakistani cricket team has been earning fame & fear for the exact opposite reason- being one of the strongest balling squads.
Every time these two forces face each other, it becomes a cricket lover’s delight. And this match became even more so with the Pakistani cricket team flourishing in all the departments of the match. Bonus: Pakistani batsmen shone brighter too. The decision to field first was proven right!
