Asia Cup 2022: Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowls consistently in 145 kmph before deceiving Babar Azam

Dubai, Aug 28: India star pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar provided Team India with an early breakthrough in the Asia Cup 2022 opening game against arch-rivals Pakistan when he dismissed dangerous-looking Babar Azam early in the match here on Sunday (August 28).

The senior right-arm pacer dismissed Azam for 10 in the third over of the match with a short-pitched bouncer which the star Pakistan batter top-edged and paid the price. The in-form Pakistan captain was trying to pull the pacer but failed to time it correctly and Arshdeep Singh takes a simple catch at the fine leg.

Bhuvneshwar - who is known for his consistency with the new ball in the powerplays - once again delivered for his team and got the prized wicket of the opposition captain in his second over.

While he gave his team, as well as the fans, a reason to celebrate with his bowling effort, the Uttar Pradesh seamer was also impressed with the pace that he was generating in his first spell. The right-arm quick was also commended on social media for constantly touching the speed of 145-kmph with the ball in the first.

The speedometer constantly displayed the bowler touching the 145-kmph-mark and surprised everyone. While some on social media believed there was something wrong with the coding as the right-arm quick's average bowling speed has been in the range of 135-kmph.

In his first over, Kumar had trapped Mohammed Rizwan in front for a duck and the umpire raised his fingers but the batter went upstairs to review. The ball-tracking showed the ball was missing the stumps and the umpire had to overturn his decision but the seamer impressed everyone with his effort in the first over and kept testing the Pakistani batting duo.

Earlier in the day, India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl in the highly anticipated contest between the two Asian giants.

Playing XIs:

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, and Avesh Khan

Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, and Shahnawaz Dahani.