Rohit Sharma-led India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan by 5 wickets in the Asia Cup 2022. Chasing 148 runs to win, the batters had to toil hard to reach the target at the Dubai International Stadium.
Ravindra Jadeja played a handy knock of 35 runs and took the Men in Blue to a vital win in the first game of the campaign. He was assisted by Hardik Pandya, who accumulated an unbeaten 33 off 17 balls to give the winning touch.
Earlier, Pakistan scored 147 with Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking 4 wickets while Hardik added 3 scalps to his name.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and invited the Men in Green to bat first.
India preferred the power-hitting of Dinesh Karthik over Rishabh Pant to accommodate Kohli upfront. Karthik had played some impressive knocks in the latter half of the innings in India’s recent T20s.
India also included fast bowlers Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh to supplement experienced seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar as paceman Jasprit Bumrah, and Harshal Patel were both ruled out of the Asia Cup due to injuries.
In the absence of Afridi, Pakistan gave a debut to fast bowler Naseem Shah and preferred Shahnawaz Dahani over fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain in the starting XI.