Asia Cup: On Sunday, Pakistan defeated India by five wickets in a T20 Asia Cup “Super 4” match after Mohammad Rizwan scored an aggressive 71. Chasing 182 to win, Pakistan accomplished the feat with one ball remaining thanks to a crucial 73-run partnership between Rizwan and Mohammad Nawaz, who scored 42.
After reaching his second consecutive fifty, Rizwan was out in the 17th over, but Pakistan was still victorious thanks to Khushdil Shah and Asif Ali in the final over. Asif was given a reprieve as Arshdeep Singh missed a clear-cut chance at short third, and after hitting six and two fours, he fell with two balls remaining, allowing Iftikhar Ahmed to score the final two runs.
Clubbed alongside Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in the round-robin format of the ‘Super 4’, India and Pakistan are fancied to finish top-two finish to set up yet another Sunday showdown. Sri Lanka and Pakistan have won one match each, which means India have to win the remaining two games against Sri Lanka (September 6) and Afghanistan (September 8). India winning their next two games will also eliminate Afghanistan from the tournament.
Sri Lanka will be eliminated from the campaign if India wins their final two games and Pakistan defeats the island nation. However, the Net Run Rate (NRR) enters the picture if Sri Lanka wins their next two games. India must win the following two games by significant margins to advance to the championship game. Currently, Sri Lanka (+0.589) and Pakistan (+0.126) are ahead of them in the points table with two points each, and they have an NRR of -0.126.
After Pakistan’s victory on Sunday, Rizwan said that his colleagues had discussed the match between India and Pakistan as a “best of three-match series.” Since over ten years ago, political unrest has caused a halt to bilateral series between the two nations.
“Fans from both countries anticipate the third meeting in next week’s final. We have jokingly said among ourselves that it’s a best of three-match series (between India and Pakistan),” said Rizwan.
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