It’s time for the biggest and most intense match of cricket .It is time for India vs Pakistan.  India face Pakistan today  in their 4th match of Asia cup 2016. Ind vs Pak match has traditionally been always high voltage encounters and this one is supposed to be no different. We bring you live reaction and news from this high octane encounter.

Squads

India (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah. (Rahane comes in place of Dhawan who is nursing a slight injury)

Pakistan (Playing XI): Khurram Manzoor, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed(w), Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi(c), Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Irfan

Toss – India won the toss and opt to bowl first.

MS Dhoni – We will bowl first. I think so far we have not really judged the wicket. This is slightly harder than the last time we played here. We have seen that the sides that have lost too many wickets early have found it difficult to win games. So we need to respect the bowlers initially. Once the dew comes on the outfield, the ball comes on better and it’s easier to play the big shots.

Shahid Afridi – We wanted to bat first anyway. We are playing 4 genuine fast bowlers. Truly speaking, i am relaxed, the boys are also very calm very motivated and enjoying the atmosphere and that’s a good sign for me. There will be something on this pitch for the fast bowlers early on and we would like to get some early wickets.

Lets have a look at some live reaction’s coming in

 

So the first innings has come to conclusion and the first half of the match belonged to India all the way. Pakistan has been bowled out for 83 in just 17.3 overs. The Pakistani batting lineup started collapsing right from the first over when Nehra got rid of Hafeez for 4, and from their wickets keep falling at regular interval and Pakistan never threatened to post a big total tonight. Hardik Pandya picked up 3 wickets and was the pick of Indian bowlers.bowlers. Sarfarz top scored for Pakistan with 25 runs.

Let’s take a look at some of the reaction as twitter wasted no time to troll Pakistan batting collapse

 

https://twitter.com/SpiceBoxofEarth/status/703593370900238337

https://twitter.com/zoomphatak/status/703583391187279872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/poonamkhatri/status/703592702256877569

And the second innings has started and India have got off to an extremely disappointing start. India lost 2 wickets in the first over bowled by Mohammed amir with both Rahane and Rohit Sharma gone for a duck. Amir also got rid of raina in his next over, and at the end of three overs India are 8/3.

Shot of the day

https://twitter.com/imVkohliFanClub/status/703607229836963840

And Finally India emerge victorious in this crunch low scoring encounter. India beat Pakistan by 5 wickets with 27 balls to spare. After the poor start by Indians Virat Kohli & Yuvraj Singh steadied the ship for India with a 68 run partnership for the 5th wicket. Kohli showed some remarkable  shots on his route to 49 when he was wrongly given lbw by the umpire. Yuvraj played the supporting well as he survived the dangerous bowling spell and supported kohli brilliantly. The winning run came from Dhoni’s bat as he smashed Riaz for a boundary.

Here is what the players had to say after the match

Yuvraj: ”

It was a bit tough. The Pakistani bowlers bowled really good areas. They bowled quick as well. It was not easy to bat and Virat batted exceptionally well. Our bowlers bowled well too. I am happy that I spent a bit of time out there in the middle. They call me the pie chucker for no reason (smiles, when asked about his bowling). I try and do my best for the team every time I bowl.”

Kohli (MOM):

It wasn’t such an easy wicket to bat on. I wasn’t happy with myself with the way I batted in the last game. So I decided to dig in. I would like to congratulate Mohammad Amir for that spell. I was so happy to play that kind of bowling. God bless him for more success. Counter-attack is the game that I play, I bat at No. 3. T20 cricket is just an extension of Test cricket for me. I don’t try any fancy shots. On these kind of wickets, it’s very important to change your shot at the last moment. You need to stay calm, stay relaxed and that is the best way to bat on this pitch.

Here is what Pakistani captain Afridi had to say

We should have read the pitch better. We didn’t play accordingly. If your top batsmen are back in the hut inside the first 6 overs, then you won’t score many runs. We have to address this issue. This was not a 160 wicket. We are capable of bouncing back from here on. If you bowl in the right areas, you will get wickets on this pitch.

And here’s what the winning Captain Dhoni had to say

Initially we thought this would be good practice for the T20 World Cup, but the conditions here are very different. I think it’s good for us. We are one team, who like to play aggressive cricket and I think the conditions here will push us. I thought Amir bowled really well for them. I am glad that we restricted them to 83. 110 would have been a good score. The middle overs were crucial for us. We picked wickets are regular intervals and that’s what we did. I think the fast bowlers can have a big impact going forward in the tournament.