India made an excellent recovery with the ball to bowl Pakistan out for 241 after a solid third-wicket partnership between Saud Shakeel and skipper Mohammad Rizwan gave the Men in Green hope of posting a total in excess of 300 at one point. Khushdil Shah was the last Pakistani batter to fall, holing out to Virat Kohli at deep square leg off Harshit Rana’s bowling as the Pakistanis were bowled out with two deliveries remaining in their innings.
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Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the Indian bowlers with figures of 3/40 – which included the wickets of Salman Agha (19) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (0) in in successive deliveries in the 43rd over. Seam-bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya also had a good day with the ball as he collected 2/31 from eight overs while Rana (1/30), Ravindra Jadeja (1/40) and Axar Patel (1/49) collected a wicket each.
Shakeel and Rizwan did a fine job at getting Pakistan back on their feet after the hosts and defending champions lost openers Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq – who filled in for the injured Fakhar Zaman – in quick succession. The third-wicket pair put the Men in Green in the driver’s seat with a partnership that was worth 104.
Rizwan, however, was castled by left-arm finger spinner Axar Patel after dancing down the track and attempting to go big downtown. Shakeel departed the very next over, holing out to Axar at deep midwicket off Pandya’s bowling. And with Tayyab Tahir falling to Jadeja shortly after, 300 began to look like a distant possibility.
Impact Shorts
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Pakistan 241 in 49.4 overs (Saud Shakeel 62, Mohammad Rizwan 46; Kuldeep Yadav 3/40, Hardik Pandya 2/31) vs India