It was a must-win match for India to stay in the tournament. The Indian victory owed it to superb knocks of Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and RG Sharma, and partly owed it to poor Pakistani bowling and Misbah’s slack captaincy. Kohli scored 183, while RG Sharma 68. India were 247 for 2 at the end of 40th over while chasing Pakistan’s 329. Pakistan’s defeat disappointed the cricket-lovers across Pakistan as they were expecting tight bowling to bring home victory after such good performance with the bat. Virat Kohli earlier scored his century while leading chase. He scored his 11th century in 96 balls. Pakistan made a strong comeback earlier by claiming the wicket of Tendulkar. However, Kohli continued the momentum after a brief lull cause by Sachin’s exit. India lost second wicket of Sachin Tendulkar at a time when India almost appeared dominating the match. Younis Khan took the catch of Sachin at 53 off the ball of Saeed Ajmal in 20th over. Kohli was playing at 73 with India at a total of 133 when Sachin got out. The first Indian wicket fell in first over, yet Kohli and Tendulkar had placed their team in strong position. Tendulkar and Kohli made the advantage appear transient by taking the run rate to 6.95 an over, above the required rate. Pakistan skipper Misbah once again surprised all, this time by taking off Hafeez despite him taking the wicket in the first over. His replacement Aizaz Cheema received a lot of bashing from the Indians, yet the skipper continued with Cheema. India were 98 at end of over number 15, with one wicket down. Tendulkar was playing at 47 and Kohli 45. Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and decided to bat in last Asia Cup league match against arch-rivals India at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. India made one change in their playing eleven, replacing injured Ravindra Jadeja with Yusuf Pathan, while Pakistan brought Wahab Riaz in place of Sarfraz Ahmed.
0 comments:
Post a Comment