Dubai: In a thrilling encounter against Pakistan on Sunday, India defeated the arch-rivals by five wickets. The hero of the match was Hardik Pandya, who performed brilliantly in both bowl and bat.
Team India had to score 7 runs in the last over to win. But on the fourth ball of Pakistan bowler Nawaz, Hardik started hit a six and led to first victory in the tournament by beating Pakistan by 5 wickets,. Earlier, India had a poor start when vice-captain KL Rahul (0) was dismissed on the second ball.
From here, Rohit and Virat added 50 runs for the second wicket, but when both of them were set, Mohammad Nawaz dismissed both of them at regular intervals and brought India to the back foot.
Later, Suryakumar Yadav (18) was bowled by Naseem Shah, Pakistan seemed to be coming on the front foot, but from here Ravindra Jadeja (35 runs, 29 balls, 2 fours, 2 sixes) and Hardik Pandya (33 not out, 17 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) added 52 runs for the fifth wicket to keep India’s on track.
The required run average kept increasing but Hardik’s top-class effort gave India a win in 19.4 overs with 5 wickets and 2 balls to spare.