Asia Cup 2022: Babar Azam hails Pakistan's all-round brilliance to pip India
Pakistan team (PC: Twitter)
Babar Azam has credited the bowlers and the partnership of Mohammad Rizwan-Mohammad Nawaz to help them beat India in a crucial Super-Four fixture on Sunday (4 September).
From Pakistan's point of view, it was a bad start for them as Indian openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma were at their absolute best to steer India at more than 10 runs per over.
However, Haris Rauf, who was wicketless ahead of this game, delivered a slower ball, which outfoxed Sharma (28) in the sixth over. Soon, Shadab Khan got rid of Rahul (28), which put India under the pump.
Shadab and Nawaz were clinical to dry the run rate of the Indian team, which resulted in Surya Kumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya giving away their wickets early. Although Kohli scored 60 off 44 balls, India were a touch 10-15 runs short, as per the thunderous start.
"I think they were brilliant in the powerplay and had the edge over us. We came back in the middle overs to pull things back. Yeah, the score of 181 was a bit tricky to chase. We didn't start well. The partnership between Rizwan and Nawaz was the one which got us back and the rest finished it," said Babar.
Yeah, the thinking while sending Nawaz was about playing positive cricket. He was sent to do exactly what he did. He was outstanding. Yeah, the spinners bowled really well. They are the ones who brought us back to the contest."