Player of the Match
Player of the Match

Right, that's the end of this dud, there's a thriller going on in Abu Dhabi, Afghanistan fighting hard against Bangladesh. Stop by and have fun.

Shikhar Dhawan is the Man of the Match for his 114"I enjoyed my game. I've been in good touch and just wanted ot make the most of it. It's a good batting track and I enjoyed the way I was batting. It was sensible and aggressive and I enjoyed the balance. Pakistan have a good bowling attack. I knew that as openers we have to stay in. So once I got set, I just carried on and as I said, I was sensible and I didn't want to throw away my wicket. Once you're set, once you've played 20 overs, it gets easier. It's the job for openers, play out the new ball, and that's the opposition's strength. We don't get runs that easily in the first 15 overs but Rohit played an amazing knock again, he's very good at converting to centuries. So it's good that we both value our wickets. We know that we don't get these conditions often and we wanted to take advantage of it"

"We asked something like this from the boys. It was challenging conditions, and it was tough coming out and playing in these conditions. All of them showed great character," Rohit Sharma says. "We spoke about leaving our past performances in the past and doing the job again today and they did it. Bumrah has matured as a bowler now, has played a great amount of cricket and he understands his bowling. it's very important for any player. He understands what fields he needs to set and on a wicket like that you need to be clever, keep it tight, keep up pressure. Bhuvneshwar too did exactly the same We never wanted to let them off the hook and our spinners have been magnificent throughout the tournament. They kept taking wickets and when you do that, you win. It was a challenge when Hardik got injured. We were playing four spinners including Jadhav. We wondered about going with three seamers, but knowing these conditions, we went with the spinners and they have been great. Jadeja too, to come back into the side and do so well. Opening with Dhawan is, I don't even need to speak to him, it's important to let him be and we've batted enough to understand each other's games. We know how important the first 10 overs is. The chase becomes a little easier if that's done well. The most important thing was to bat as long as possible and that's what we did. Nothing is easy [hitting sixes] and when it comes off it looks nice. I've gotten out playing those shots but its important to put pressure on the bowlers Pakistan have a great bowling line-up and it's important to keep them under pressure. They've troubled us in the past.

Restricting Pakistan to 237 was a massive effort too, especially considering Shoaib Malik batted like a boss, scoring 78. It was Jasprit Bumrah that took him out and he came back in the death overs with a spell where he gave away only 15 runs in four overs. Insane effort from the No. 1 ranked ODI bowler in the world. Yuzvendra Chahal was also influential, picking up the first wicket of the day, and also taking out a dangerous Asif Ali in the slog overs. Rohit was brilliant shuffling his bowlers around and stifling Pakistan, especially early in the innings, with his fields

"Tough game, we did well with the bat, but 20-30 runs short. But if we keep dropping catches, we won't win games. We've done hard work at fielding. So I'm not sure what's going wrong. I thought the pitch was difficult to bat on, that it would be hard for a new batsman to start here and for that reason we should have held on to our catches," Sarfraz Ahmed says. "They had set batsman to do the job. We're trying to get early wickets, we're talking with the bowlers, and when we don't get them, with batsmen like Rohit and Dhawan, it's hard to come back. Their skill-level is high, ours is not quite there, but by the final, we'll get better. It's a do-or-die match for us in the next game, we'll do our best"

10.25 pm Only one wicket lost a chase of 238 - and that came off a run-out. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have not just beaten Pakistan, they've pinned them to the mat and made them squeal. There were a few chances in the first 10 overs with Shaheen Afridi looking especially potent, but when Imam-ul-Haq dropped him in the sixth over, the entire complexion of the chase changed.

India's batsmen settled in. Pakistan found nothing from a pitch that became awesome for batting under lights. And then it was only a question of records. Rohit went past 7000 runs in his 181st innings - two quicker than Brian Lara - and made his 13th century in the last 15 ODI series for India. He's got eight out of the most recent eight as well. Dhawan also moved on to three-figures, his second of this Asia Cup, playing his part in racking up India's best opening partnership (210 runs) against Pakistan. As no-contesty as a no-contest can be

Pradeep D: "Pakistan not brave enough to chase after winning the toss despite knowing this is a good pitch under lights. That has played a big part in their loss"

Rajesh Lokhande: "Pakistan can still make to Grand Finale here. If India beat AFG next and PAK win against Bangladesh, then it will be the IND vs PAK final."

Siva: "Was hoping for an Indian victory without significant contributions from the openers. As it turned they did the job themselves. Worried about the middle order. Hope they step up and avoid a repeat of CT2017 in the finals."

39.3
1
Shoaib Malik to Rayudu, 1 run, winning runs! Comes off a leading edge with Rayudu looking for midwicket but finding mid-off
39.2
0
Shoaib Malik to Rayudu, no run, closes the bat face and gets an outside edge that wanders down to third man
39.1
1
Shoaib Malik to Sharma, 1 run, single to the right of midwicket. Rohit doing this clinically

END OF OVER:
39 | 4 Runs | IND: 236/1 (2 runs required from 11 overs, RR: 6.05, RRR: 0.18)

  • Ambati Rayudu11 (16b)
  • Rohit Sharma110 (118b)
  • Hasan Ali9-0-52-0
  • Shoaib Malik4-0-12-0
38.6
0
Hasan Ali to Rayudu, no run, drills a full delivery back at the bowler
38.5
1
Hasan Ali to Sharma, 1 run, full and outside off, he sneaks it past point to third man
38.4
0
Hasan Ali to Sharma, no run, looks for the front-foot pull again but this time Hasan's short ball gets to him too quickly, going off the splice of the bat to mid-on
38.3
0
Hasan Ali to Sharma, no run, slower ball, lands at about a yorker length outside off, Rohit jabs it to point
38.2
1
Hasan Ali to Rayudu, 1 run, fuller delivery outside off, he drives through point
38.1
2
Hasan Ali to Rayudu, 2 runs, pulls the slower short ball to the left of deep square leg

END OF OVER:
38 | 3 Runs | IND: 232/1 (6 runs required from 12 overs, RR: 6.10, RRR: 0.50)

  • Ambati Rayudu8 (13b)
  • Rohit Sharma109 (115b)
  • Shoaib Malik4-0-12-0
  • Hasan Ali8-0-48-0
37.6
1
Shoaib Malik to Rayudu, 1 run, sweeps the length ball on leg stump to deep square leg

Uday Kiran: "Whats the stats now. Are pak out of the tournament..technically and practically work are the chances and odds" They're probably still in this but judging by the expressions on captain Sarfraz Ahmed and coach Mickey Arthur's faces, it might not be much consolation

37.5
0
Shoaib Malik to Rayudu, no run, stays back to flick a shortish delivery to midwicket
37.4
1
Shoaib Malik to Sharma, 1 run, drives serenely to long-off

Suyog: "Bumrah, my MOM, any takers?" Sounds good. Sensational bowling at the death, four overs, only 15 runs

37.3
0
Shoaib Malik to Sharma, no run, nudges to midwicket

Men's T20 Asia Cup

Super Four
TeamMWLPTNRR
SL33060.701
PAK3214-0.279
IND31221.607
AFG3030-2.006
Group A
TeamMWLPTNRR
IND22041.096
PAK21123.811
HKG2020-4.875
Group B
TeamMWLPTNRR
AFG22042.467
SL2112-2.233
BAN2020-0.576