šAsia Cup 2023: M3: India vs Pakistan at 3 PM IST on 02/09/2023 at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele š
Welcome to Thread 2 of Match 3 of Asia Cup 2023 between India and Pakistan
It's currently raining at Pallekele and the covers are on. 266 is probably a par-score on this track which had a bit of variable bounce. However, the ball is expected to come onto the bat better under lights. Let's hope that the weather clears quickly. We could be in for a thriller here...
What a rollercoaster ride this was, with rain playing hide-and-seek. And it has again started drizzling, by the way. As expected, Pakistan's fast-bowling trio of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf tested India's top-order batters, and got better of them. Shaheen removed Rohit and Kohli, and Haris got rid of Iyer and Gill to leave India 66 for 4. But then Kishan and Hardik revived the innings by adding 138 for the fifth wicket. The Pakistan spinners looked ineffective in that middle phase, and their fielding was sloppy. But just when it started looking like that India could even go past 300 here, it was time for the fast bowlers to come back. Haris broke that stand with Kishan's wicket and Shaheen sent back Hardik and in the same over to bring Pakistan back. Naseem then wrapped up the innings with three late wickets as Pakistan's fast bowlers shared all ten. We will be back for the chase in a bit, don't go far away.
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