India and Pakistan once again played out a thriller in the ongoing Asia Cup and in the Super 4 stage, it was Babar Azam-led Pakistan that came out on top by five wickets. Till the final over of the match, the balance kept changing and in the end, it all boiled down to who holds nerves better. Young seamer Arshdeep Singh dropped a relatively easy change off the bowling of Ravi Bishnoi in the 18th over of the innings and hence Asif Ali got a major reprieve. After that, Pakistan went on to win the match by five wickets.
India batter Virat Kohli has now come in support of Arshdeep, saying anyone can make mistakes in a high-pressure game, and it is important to learn from them and move on.
“Anyone can make the mistake, the situation was tight. It was a high-pressure game and mistakes can happen. I still remember I was playing my first Champions Trophy and the match was against Pakistan, I had played a very bad shot against Shahid Afridi. I was watching the ceiling till 5 am, I was not able to sleep and I thought my career is over but these things are natural,” Kohli said in a post-match press conference.
“Seniors players get around you, there is a good team environment right now, I give the credit to the captain and coach. The players learn from their mistakes. So one must accept his mistake, address it and look forward to being in that pressure situation once again,” he added.
In the 18th over which was bowled by Ravi Bishnoi, Pakistan needed 34 runs with Khushdil Shah and Asif Ali on the crease. On the third delivery, Asif played a sweep shot and ball went into the air and was looking like an easy take for Arshdeep. But fate had other plans in store, as the ball went through his hands, and Asif Ali survived.
After dropping the catch, Arshdeep was chosen to bowl the final over, but he was unable to defend seven runs. India will next take on Sri Lanka in the ongoing Super 4 stage.
Talking about the match between India and Pakistan, the former was sent into bat and the side posted 181/7 in 20 overs. Virat Kohli top-scored with a knock of 60 off 44 balls.
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Chasing 182, wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan top-scored for Pakistan as he played a knock of 71 of 51 balls. However, the impact innings came from Mohammad Nawaz who went out to bat at No.4 and the left-hander went on to score 42 runs off 20 balls.
For India, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal and Arshdeep Singh scalped one wicket each.
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