India and Pakistan shared points as rain emerged victorious in the mega Asia Cup 2023 encounter at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, September 2. As predicted earlier, the rain was consistent throughout the game and washed away the entire second innings where Pakistan needed to chase 267 runs. With a point, Pakistan secured qualification to the Super 4 round and India now need to avoid a defeat against Nepal at any cost to reach the next round.
Meanwhile, India registered a challenging total after brilliant fifties from Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya. But it was Pakistan's in-form pace attack that dominated India's opening game in the tournament. However, both teams stood a chance to win the game in the second half of the match with potential DLS in the play, but the official called the game off after ground inspection.
Pakistan's pacers were excellent with their spells in the powerplay overs and utilised playing conditions in their favour. Shaheen gave Pakistan a sensational start with India captain Rohit Sharma's wicket in the fifth over to add early pressure and then further shocked the Indian camp with Virat Kohli's wicket in the seventh over. Notably, Shaheen bowled out both star batters and became the first bowler in the world to bowl out both Rohit and Virat in the same ODI innings.
Haris Rauf then took charge and dismissed returning Shreyas Iyer and youngster Shubman Gill in a dominant position. But Ishan and Hardik pulled off a 138-run stand for the fifth wicket, the biggest against Pakistan in the Asia Cup, to put 266 runs on the scoreboard. Haris and Naseem Shah picked three wickets each while Shaheen dominated the game with four wickets.
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan(wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Pakistan Playing XI: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf
