Shah hails IND's win over PAK, says 'it was a nail-biting match'

NEW DELHI: As the country celebrated India’s victory over neighbouring challengers Pakistan, Union Home Minister Amit Shah hailed team India for registering a 5-wicket win over Pakistan in a T20 match of the Asia Cup on Sunday.

“What a superb start by Team India at the #AsiaCup2022. This was such a nail-biting match. Congratulations to the entire team for this amazing victory. Keep it up!” he tweeted.

Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri also congratulated team India and called it a “spectacular victory” against Pakistan.

“Boys in Blue do it yet again! Score a spectacular victory against Pakistan in #AsiaCup2022 Tense moments but a clinical finish! Heartiest congratulations #TeamIndia,” Puri said in a tweet.

Soon after India registered a victory over Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also lauded the Indian side for displaying superb skill and grit.

“TeamIndia put up a spectacular all-round performance in today’s AsiaCup2022 match. The team has displayed superb skill and grit. Congratulations to them on the victory,” tweeted PM Modi.

The match seemed lagging at the beginning with KL Rahul, and Rohit Sharma making an early exit however the spines straightened with Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya taking India towards victory inch by inch.

The crucial partnership between Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya helped India defeat arch-rivals Pakistan in a thrilling clash by five wickets in the second match of the Asia Cup 2022 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Jadeja smashed 35 while Pandya hammered 33* in 17 balls. For Pakistan, Mohammad Nawaz bagged three and Naseem Shah scalped two wickets.

Chasing 148 runs, India got off to a bad start as they lost their opener, KL Rahul, without even scoring a run. Rahul’s wicket brought Virat Kohli out on the crease, who was playing his 100th T20I on Sunday.

Virat Kohli was in red-hot form as he kept smashing boundaries to keep India in a hunt of the run chase. Rohit also opened his hand but his stint was cut short as he was dismissed by Mohammad Nawaz after scoring 12 runs. Star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja then came to bat on the crease.

India did not give Pakistan a chance to balance itself after back-to-back blows. Arshdeep Singh struck against in the 18th over and dismissed Mohammad Nawaz who could only manage to score one run.

In the 19th over, Pakistan’s Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan opened their hands to smash big hits, but their hammering was cut short by Bhuvneshwar LBW out Shadab Khan after scoring 10 runs.

In the same over Bhuvneshwar struck again, dismissing Naseem Shah scoring just zero runs.

In the last, over of the innings, Arshdeep ended Pakistan’s inning as he helped India bundle out Men in Green for 147.

Brief score: Pakistan 147 (Mohammad Rizwan 43, Iftikhar Ahmed 28; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-26) vs India 148/5 (Ravindra Jadeja 35, Hardik Pandya 33*; Mohammad Nawaz 3-33).