||Desk Report||

More than a year after their last face-off in the ICC Champions Trophy final, India are once again taking on Pakistan in the last Group B-match of the Asia Cup.

Both the teams have confirmed a spot in the Super Four and this game will decide the group champions. But when it comes to an India-Pakistan clash, it’s more than just titles. It indeed can be labelled as the battle of pride for the “most celebrated” rivalry in world cricket.

Starting the match with the toss-win, Pakistan made no mistake and chose to bat first and it was only after that when the serious mistakes were made by their batters. They characteristically failed to build up their innings after a stable partnership between Shoaib Malik and Babar Azam, midway through the innings as they scored 40-odd runs each.

The rest of the Pakistan batting lineup suffered against the flawless bowling from the Indian camp. All the key India bowlers played brilliantly and the likes of Kedar Jadhav also showed their true mettle after injury-struck Hardik Pandya left the field.

India put up a totally different display than their previous game against Hong Kong and never truly gave Pakistan the space to settle down and carefully handle the opponents.

With only 162 runs on the board, Pakistan have been more disappointing with the ball. Although Shadab Khan has delivered a late breakthrough, they certainly have not come back in the game.

Before getting out, India skipper Rohit Sharma kept piling pressure on the Asian neighbors, smashing the ball all over the park after a slow and sensible start. Shikhar Dhawan will, however, try to keep the momentum and stitch another good partnership with Ambati Rayudu.

 

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