India started their Asia Cup Title defence in a Grand Fashion by defeating their Arch-Rivals Pakistan. The Men in Blue were clinical throughout the match and it looked as if they are here to prove everyone wrong. The duo of Jadeja & Pandya were quite brilliant as the two all-rounders took the team over the finishing line.
Ravindra Jadeja got ample support from Hardik Pandya. Pandya from the ball one was quite attacking, he knew that taking the game down won’t be a feasible option. Both the batters were seen looking for an odd boundary due to which they were easily scoring 9-10 runs in the over. There was perfect coordination between the two batters as there was absolute clarity.
Ravindra Jadeja on Hardik Pandya
“We wanted to play till the end, they have a very good bowling attack, their fast bowlers don’t give anything away,” Jadeja said.
“I could have finished the game – left-arm spinner against a left-hander, but Hardik played superbly.”
“He came out and said he was going to play his shots, and happy that he stayed till the end,” said Jadeja about Pandya’s match-winning innings, as the dangerous all-rounder wrapped up the match by hitting six against Nawaz in the last over.
Hardik Pandya & Ravindra Jadeja
The duo had a tough task on their hands as the pitch was not that easy to hit sixes. The spinners enjoyed their time in the middle, especially Nawaz who wrecked India’s top order by getting rid of Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli. The situation was quite precarious for the Men in Blue as a couple of wickets could have changed the complexion of the match.
Hardik Pandya looked like a man on a mission. Pandya’s body language was like we can hunt down any target. The left-handed batter Jadeja took a back seat as Pandya was hitting the ball smoothly. It won’t be wrong to say that Indian batters made Pakistani bowlers bowl wides & extras. The bowlers were frustrated as they were rotating the strike which changed the facets of the match.
