IND VS PAK MATCH 2

Right then, that is it from this enticing game. India have come out on top in their opening game and have taken two crucial points. The next game will be Bangladesh against Afghanistan on the 30th of August. The first ball will be bowled at 7.30 pm IST (2.00 pm GMT) but do join us early for the build-up. Till then, goodbye and cheers!

Hardik Pandya is the Player of the Match. He says that his plan was pretty simple, it was important to use the conditions and his strength was bowling those hard lengths, and he stuck to that, the main thing was for him to remain calm which helped. Adds that he tried to keep it as clean as possible. Mentions that the bowler is always under more pressure in the 20th over and he tried to keep things simple.

Rohit Sharma the skipper of India says that halfway through the stage they had belief and when there's that kind of belief, these things happen and the quality of the players is high. Says that it was a challenging game but a perfect one too and it is better than being one-sided. Says that it's about giving players confidence and even though they were challenged at times, they pulled through. About Pandya, he says that Pandya is in form and when he was not a part of the team, Pandya worked a lot on himself and he has been brilliant with the bat, which is a good sign for the team. Adds that whether it's with the bat or ball, the execution from Pandya is on point.

Babar Azam the skipper of Pakistan says that they were 10-15 runs short, but they bowled well and the bowlers did make a match out of this. Adds that the tail added crucial runs in the end which is a positive factor for them. Mentions that they thought of taking the game deep, but Hardik Pandya finished things off well. On Naseem Shah, he says that he is a young bowler and he bowled well with a lot of aggression.

Stay tuned for the presentation...

Ravindra Jadeja is down for a quick chat. Jadeja says that Pakistan had a very good bowling attack, they were not giving anything away. Adds that he could have finished the game as he was against a left-arm spinner. When asked about Hardik Pandya he says that he knew Pandya had to still till the end and he played his shots well in the end.

Earlier in the game, Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl first which proved to be the right decision. The pitch had good bounce and carry and the Indian pacers made the most of it as all of them got onto the wickets column. Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up 4 and Hardik Pandya 3 wickets. Mohammad Rizwan notched up some important runs for Pakistan and in the end, it was the tailender Shahnawaz Dahani who hit a couple of lusty blows to get them close to the 150-run mark. After a sedate start, India did well not to lose too many wickets and a blistering knock of 33 from just 17 balls by Hardik Pandya sealed the deal for India. An absolute thriller.

Pakistan will feel hard done by that loss but truth be told, their bowlers showed real fight. The score on the board wasn't high but the pacers started off well. Naseem Shah, on debut was phenomenal and the others gave him ample support. One thing though was that the other pacers just couldn't pick up wickets. It was really Mohammad Nawaz in the middle overs who did the job of picking up wickets and gave his team the platform to go on and get the win. The lack of wickets did hurt them in the end and Nawaz, the left-arm spinner was asked to defend just 6 in the final over. He did get a wicket but it was a job that proved to be a bit too difficult.

India didn't have the ideal start as KL Rahul was dismissed in the very first over. After that, it was Virat Kohli who got a few boundaries under his belt and kept the scoreboard ticking. Kohli and Rohit both fell in quick succession and Ravindra Jadeja then held onto one end. With balls running out, Hardik Pandya showed his muscle and in the penultimate over got the boundaries. Hardik then rounded off a brilliant all-round performance as he finished things off with a maximum and opened India's account in the Asia Cup.

What a game we have just witnessed here! This one kept the fans engrossed till the very end but it is India who have just been able to get over the line and get a big victory over arch-rivals Pakistan.

SIX! BOOM! Hardik Pandya finishes things off in style! Back of a length, around middle. Hardik Pandya swivels and pulls it over deep mid-wicket for a maximum. India win by 5 wickets!

A dot ball! Back of a length, outside off. Hardik Pandya makes room and pushes it towards the fielder at cover. No run there!

A shorter ball, drifting in, around middle. Dinesh Karthik pulls it towards deep square leg for a single. 6 needed off 4 balls.

Dinesh Karthik is the new man in. 7 needed off 5 balls.

OUT! CLEANED HIM UP! Is there a twist in the tale? Maybe there is! A shorter ball, around middle. Ravindra Jadeja gets low and looks to swipe this one but he misses. The ball goes off his thigh pad and onto the stumps. Mohammad Nawaz gets rid of the well-set Ravindra Jadeja. 7 needed off 5 balls now!

FOUR! Third boundary of the over! Another back-of-a-length delivery, around middle and off. Hardik Pandya swipes this towards cow corner for a boundary. 7 needed off the final 6 balls.

Very short this time, outside off, Hardik Pandya misses his pull shot. No wide called!