India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup: I will take this win over one-sided victories, says Rohit Sharma – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

India beat Pakistan in a nail-biting match with just two balls to spare after the Indian all-rounders showed why they are the best in the world and ensured a five-wicket win at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.

Both the teams held tight and denied to give up till the last over of the match and an amazing effort was seen from multiple players on both sides. From Bhuvneshwar Kumar to Mohammed Rizwan, and from Naseem Shah to Hardik Pandya – a single player’s performance would be difficult to highlight in such a high-intensity contest.

India skipper Rohit Sharma, at the end of the match, highlighted the challenging situation they found themselves in, but said that they would have such victories over the usual one-sided wins.

“Halfway through the chase, we still knew that we can win irrespective of the situation. We had the belief and when you have that belief, these things can happen. It’s about giving clarity to the guys so that they know their roles well. It was a bit challenging but I’ll take wins like this any day over the one-sided victories.”

Read: Five talking points from the nail-biting clash between arch-rivals

Rohit also showered praise over India’s bowling and Hardik Pandya’s bowling performance that choked Pakistan for runs. Hardik was also brilliant with the bat at the end of the innings and ensured to drive India over the victory line.

“Yes, they (India’s pace bowling) have come a long way in the last year or so and they have adapted well to different situations.

“Since the time he (Hardik) has made his comeback, he’s been brilliant. When he was not part of the team, he figured out what he needs to do to his body and his fitness regime, and now he is clocking 140+ easily. His batting quality we all know and it’s been brilliant since his comeback. He is a lot calmer now and more confident about what he wants to do, whether it’s with the bat or with the ball. He can bowl really quick, we saw that today with those short balls,” Rohit continued praising the all-rounder.

Hardik also ensured that there was no panic-like situation even with six runs needed from three deliveries.

Rohit couldn’t ignore but highlight the fact. “It was always about just understanding his game and he’s doing that well now. In a high-pressure chase with 10 runs per over needed, you can panic but he never showed any of that.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam admitted that they were 15 runs short after they could manage a below-par total of 147 and were all out with one ball to spare.

The Pakistan bowlers, however, made a contest out of nothing and Babar was happy with his side’s bowling performance.

“The way we started (with the ball), was great. We were about 10-15 runs short. Bowlers did really well to make a match of this. Our tail did step up a bit to add those handy runs.”

Babar also revealed that the idea was to save 15 runs for the last over and make a spinner – Mohammed Nawaz – bowl it, but India needed only seven runs going into the final over and Hardik made sure that no further troubles were faced after just one run of the first three deliveries.

“Thought was to take the game deep. We wanted to have 15 or so to defend for Nawaz. Idea was to create pressure but Hardik finished well. He (Naseem) is a very young bowler but bowled so well, and showed so much aggression,” Babar added.

India and Pakistan both will play against Hong Kong, before reaching the Super 4s. India is scheduled to play Hong Kong on Wednesday, whereas Pakistan will lock horns on Friday.

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