Asia Cup: Kohli's class guides India home against Pakistan after Amir's assault

02/27/2016

It was a green pitch, Mohammad Amir was breathing fire and India was struggling at 8/3. Even the modest target of 84 was looking daunting – but as the cliché goes - cometh the hour, cometh the man. Virat Kohli took the bull by the horn, stamped his class, and guided India to a five-wicket win.

Brief scores: Pakistan 83 all out in 17.3 overs (Sarfraz Ahmed 25(24), Khurram Manzoor 10(18); Hardik Pandya 3/8, Ravindra Jadeja 2/11); India 84/5 in 15.3 overs (Virat Kohli 49(51), Yuvraj Singh 14(32); Mohammad Amir 3/18, Mohammad Sami 2/16)

Chasing a paltry target of 84, India got off to a rocky start – to put it lightly. All eyes were on Mohammad Amir at the start of this game and the 23-year-old produced one of the most breathtaking spells of fast bowling we have witnessed in recent times, especially in a T20I.

Rohit Sharma survived a big LBW appeal in the first ball, but the Indian star was caught plumb in front of the wicket in the next delivery again and this time the umpire raised his finger.

Buoyed by his early success Amir found a spring in his step and he was literally breathing fire. The youngster was getting the ball to move around at will, and the pace he was bowling at meant that the batsmen had very little time to adjust to the movement.

Ajinkya Rahane did not last long as well, as Amir trapped him in front of the stumps with another glorious delivery and India were tottering at 2/2 at the end of the first over.

Amir was not finished though, he picked up the wicket of Suresh Raina, who moved across his stumps to flick the ball to the on side, but only managed to top-edge the ball to the mid-on fielder.

Afridi took the bold decision to bowl out Amir, in search of Virat Kohli's wicket, but the Indian Test captain showed his class and fended off the youngster, and even managed to play the shot of the day – a sensational drive through the covers, on the up, which raced to the boundary.

Every time Virat Kohli was batting, it looked like a different pitch all together. Afridi brought on his fastest bowler – Wahab Riaz – and Kohli welcomed him to the crease by dispatching the first ball – bowled at 150 kph – to the square boundary with a text-book drive off the front foot.

India managed two more boundaries in that opening over of Riaz – one of which came off a lovely flick by Yuvraj – and it seemed like India are once again back on the driving seat.

Kohli continued producing some awe-inspiring drives through the cover and Wahab Riaz bore the brunt for most of it. Mohammad Sami, eventually, trapped Kohli in front of the wicket, and the Umpire raised his finger despite a big inside edge which deflected the ball onto the pad.

One ball later, Hardik Pandya edged one to the first slip as Sami picked up his second wicket. Eventually, MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh took India's total past the target of 84, as India edged closer to book a place in the final of the Asia Cup.

(Read about the comeback of Mohammad Amir into the Pakistan cricket team - Mohammad Amir – everybody deserves a second chance)

Earlier, the pitch, like the last time, had a fair bit of grass on the surface, although there were some clear addition of bare patches. It seemed like the pitch would assist both the fast bowlers and the spinners. This, along with the fact that he wanted to protect his spinners from the dew, meant MS Dhoni opted to put Pakistan into bat after winning the toss. However, Shahid Afridi claimed that he would have opted to bat first anyway.

India made one change to their line-up with Ajinkya Rahane replacing Shikhar Dhawan, who was struggling with a niggling injury.

Mohammad Hafeez started off the Pakistan innings with a sumptuous drive on the off-side, off Ashish Nehra, in the second ball of the first over. However, the 36-year-old pacer, who earned a lot of praise for his performance against Bangladesh, dismissed him couple of balls later.

Nehra dropped the ball a bit short of length and it extracted more bounce than Hafeez anticipated. The batsman's attempted square cut only amounted to an edge behind the stumps to MS Dhoni, who gobbled it up.

From the other end, Jasprit Bumrah continued to build pressure with accurate line and length. The pacer troubled the batsman when his deliveries, which are naturally angled in to the right-handers, held their line.

The 22-year-old received just reward for his efforts as he dismissed Sharjeel Khan in the fourth over. The Pakistani batsman hit him for a boundary in the first ball of the over, but Bumrah showed tremendous character to bounce back immediately and sent him packing with a slower delivery. Once again, the ball bounced more than the batsman anticipated, and he only managed to edge it to Rahane, who was standing at gully.

In the fifth over, Khurram attempted a slog and gloved it behind to MS Dhoni, however, despite the distinct noise, and deflection, the umpire remained unmoved, much to the surprise of the Indian fielders.

That stroke of luck did last long though, as Khurram Manzoor ran himself out in the sixth over. Virat Kohli took full advantage of the mix-up between Shoaib Malik and Manzoor, as he knocked out the stumps with a direct hit from the covers.

The Pakistani batsman were in a hurry to end the match it seemed, and Shoaib Malik edged one to Dhoni after a wild swing outside the off-stump, off Hardik Pandya, who leaped up and celebrated by clicking his heels in the air, almost like Brett Lee used to.

Umar Akmal, not to be left behind by his teammates, quickly followed Malik back into the pavilion as Yuvraj Singh picked up his wicket with his first delivery of the innings. Just five deliveries later, Shahid Afridi was dismissed by a brilliant piece of fielding from Ravindra Jadeja, and Pakistan were left tottering at 42/6 at the end of the eighth over.

Sarfraz Ahmed and Wahab Riaz made a fair attempt to build a partnership, and almost impressively kept the Indian bowlers away from wickets for 3.4 overs, before Riaz fell to Jadeja, who trapped him plumb in front of the wicket. The worrying thing for Pakistan was that they had lost seven wickets, and Ashwin was yet to ball.

Sarfaraz Ahmed, who top scored for Pakistan, was able to delivery couple of lusty blows before a poor choice of shot let him down. Sarfaraz moved away from the stumps to give himself some room to cut the ball, but Jadeja followed him a fired in a quick delivery, which rattled his stumps.

Dhoni brought Pandya back into the attack in the 18th over, after Ashwin uncharacteristically gave away runs, and the 22-year-old picked up two wickets in back-to-back deliveries to clean up the Pakistani tail. The men in green posted a mediocre total of 83, and the match was as good as over in the first innings itself.

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Asia Cup: Kohli's class guides India home against Pakistan after Amir's assault

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