Ishan Kishan walked off the pitch after a sensational knock in India's opening Asia Cup 2023 game against Pakistan at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, September 2. Ishan and Hardik Pandya pulled off a 100-plus stand for the fifth wicket to put India ahead in the game after a disastrous start with both smashing memorable fifties.
Haris Rauf gave Pakistan a breakthrough they needed in the 38th over with Ishan's wicket. His reaction after Babar Azam took an easy catch at long on caught the attention of the cricket fraternity. Rauf showed some aggression and also displayed a teasing gesture at Ishan while celebrating a big wicket.
Watch Haris Rauf's reaction:
Meanwhile, India struggled for a good start in the mega rain-hit encounter while batting first. Star pacer Shaheen Afridi gave Pakistan a flying start with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's valuable wickets with excellent in-swing deliveries to stun India. The returning Shreyas Iyer started well and showed some quality shots to show some resistance with Shubman Gill at the other end.
But Rauf poured some misery with Shreyas and Shubman's wickets as India lost their top four within the first 15 overs. Then Ishan and Hardik stepped up with some sensible cricket in tough conditions and pulled off the big fifties to put India in a comfortable position for a big total. The duo added 138 runs for the fifth wicket, the biggest partnership for the fifth wicket by an Indian pair against Pakistan in ODIs.
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
