Pakistan’s defeat to India in their opening fixture of the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup in Dubai has added even more drama to a pulsating tournament.
Salman Agha’s team looked to have the upper hand in the first 10 overs of the match against their arch-rivals, racing along at 10 runs an over and looking set for a score close to 200.
But a mini collapse right after the drinks break, coupled with intelligent bowling by India, restricted their score to 171-5.
In reply, India openers Abhishek Sharma (74 from 39 balls) and Shubman Gill (47 off 28) all but ended the contest, taking the score past 100 in nine overs.
The result from there was a formality as world champions India reached the target with six wickets in hand and seven balls to spare.
Pakistan now have two more matches remaining in the Super Four stage – against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and Bangladesh in Dubai on Thursday.
Pakistan are bottom of the table – albeit after just one defeat – as their net run rate of -0.689 is lower than that of Sri Lanka, who lost their Super Four match to Bangladesh.
The team in green’s first aim is to win both their games and give themselves the best chance of qualifying for the final; the top two teams among the four will make it to the title contest.
However, two wins might still not guarantee a spot in Sunday’s match as Bangladesh and India could finish with two wins apiece – if India beat Sri Lanka and lose to Bangladesh.
In that scenario, net run rate will come into play and the margin of wins in the remaining matches will have a huge bearing on the final standing.
There is another scenario where Pakistan make it to the final with just one win.
If India will all their games, there can be a three-way tie between Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on one win apiece – provided Bangladesh lose to Pakistan and Sri Lanka defeat Agha’s team. Again, it will come down to net run rate.
While it is still not time to bring out the calculator, Pakistan will need to tighten up to make life less complicated.
Pakistan’s batters failed to capitalise on a great platform set by Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub, while their bowlers haemorrhaged runs in the powerplay which meant even a good fightback in the last 10 overs was not enough.
Pakistan captain Agha said they could have scored more but insisted the total was competitive enough.
“We should have scored 10-15 more. But once the ball got old, scoring became difficult. [Still] 170 was a challenging total. We did not bowl well in the powerplay. But we should have scored more than 180,” the middle-order batter said.
“The wickets here are such that once a new batter comes in, it is difficult to adjust to the conditions.
“In batting we started well but we didn’t finish well. In bowling we did not start well but finished decently.”
Opening batter Farhan, who continued his good form by smashing a timely fifty, said it is not all doom and gloom as his team gear up for a must-win match against Sri Lanka in the capital.
“We are well prepared and motivated to face India in the final. The boys are confident of defeating Sri Lanka,” Farhan, who broke the record of most sixes in a calendar year by an Asian batter – 88 – said.
“We did lose to India but it was not a one-sided match. The way we batted and bowled, we took the match deep.”
