India vs Pakistan live: Asia Cup cricket
- India and Pakistan faced off for the 10th time in Twenty20 Internationals
- Former Indian captain Virat Kohli got his 100th T20I cap, just the second player after Ross Taylor to reach the milestone in all formats
- Late charge helped Pakistan to 147
- India reached target with just two balls to spare
Pandya: “I try to keep my mind as clear as possible”
And now a few choice quotes from the post-match presentation:
Rohit, India captain: ““No matter what the situation is, we will try to pull it off. That is the kind of belief we have in this group and when you have that belief, these things (victories) can happen.”
“Since the time he (Pandya) has made his comeback, he has been brilliant. He has looked after his body and it shows as he bowls over 140 km/h and can contribute with the bat as well.”
Pandya, Man of the Match: “If I can remain as calm as possible and stay till the end, I believe I can execute my plans. I try to keep my mind as clear as possible as I believe the bowler is under more pressure than me.”
India ultimately hold their nerve
The Indian team have started the tournament off in the best fashion possible, and will certainly be buoyed in the manner of which they achieved victory today.
Despite the feared batting triumvirate of Rahul, Rohit and Kohli not firing today, they will take great pleasure in seeing how the likes of Suryakumar, Jadeja and Pandya were able to build off the initial platform and take the game right to the wire.
On the bowling front, India were able to keep Pakistan to a respectable total and having faced a tough test today, they should be able to utilize the momentum gained through the rest of this tournament, despite missing key players in Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami.
When you consider that these two teams can still face off an additional two more times, fans on both sides will be licking their lips at the prospect of another humdinger of a match.
Pakistan played with great tenacity
For large portions of the second innings, Pakistan looked like they had done enough to rein in the explosive Indian batting lineup, despite posting a sub-par total.
The fast-bowlers used clever change of pace and mixed up their lengths in order to keep the batters guessing, but were unable to see it through as the experience of India’s middle-order made the difference.
It may be that Pakistan were missing the services of their usual wrecker-in-chief, Shaheen Afridi, but in spite of that they still showed great tenacity and look like a team to watch out for the remainder of this tournament.
