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India vs Pakistan: Men in Blue pacers rattle Pak batters with bouncers -- Know India's strategy in Asia Cup 20

India vs Pakistan: India fast bowlers troubled Pakistan batters with a barrage of short pitched balls. India bowlers took 5 wickets with bouncers in the Asia Cup 2022 match.

India pacers rattle Pak with bouncers

Dubai, August 28: India adopted a rather uncommon strategy to unsettle the Pakistan batsmen in their Asia Cup 2022 match on Sunday (August 28) — short-pitched balls.

The use short-pitched balls are not really a weapon in T20 cricket where slower balls, cutters, and leg-spin rule the roost. But the India pacers surprised the Pakistan batters with fine use of bouncers.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar showcased the intention bouncing Pakistan captain Babar Azam, who skied a catch to Arshdeep Singh inside the circle.

ASIA CUP 2022 SPECIAL PAGE

Fakhar Zaman started on a positive note but the Pakistan left-hander was surprised by a lifter by Avesh Khan.

Zaman feathered the ball while attempting an upper cut to stumper Dinesh Karthik and began his walk back to the pavilion even before the umpire raised his finger.

Hardik Pandya has come of age as a bowler in the last couple of seasons and he had showcased his new dimension as a cricketer in the IPL 2022 while leading the Gujarat Titans. Hardik showed his maturity as a bowler in Dubai this night too against Pakistan.

He sussed up the nature of the pitch to perfection and used that hard length to trouble Pakistan middle-order. Mohammad Rizwan shaped up for an upper cut but Hardik followed him with a quick, short ball and all the Pakistan batter could do was to fend it to Avesh at third man.

A similar fate awaited Iftikhar Ahmed and Khushdil Shah as they gave easy pickings to fielders off Hardik’s short-pitched balls.

In fact, at that stage Pakistan had lost all their top five batsmen to short-pitched balls. Later on there were Yorkers and slower balls as the India pacers completed a fine night for themselves.

Rohit Sharma, India Captain, had opted to bat earlier and hinted why they want to bowl first. “I don't think the toss is that important. Having played here for a few years now, I thought having a score in front of us would be a good option.

“There is some grass covering and we want to exploit it. Rishabh Pant unfortunately misses out, we got out with Karthik. Avesh is the third seamer. We will be bowling first.”

Babar Azam, the Pakistan Captain, too wanted to bowl first to exploit that green cover on the pitch “We would have also been bowling first, but this is not in our hands. Three fast bowlers, two spinners and a debut for Naseem Shah. There are a few new faces, and some old faces in that Indian team. We are trying to give it our best,” he added.

Story first published: Sunday, August 28, 2022, 21:34 [IST]
Other articles published on Aug 28, 2022