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Asia Cup 2018: Here is what players, Twitterati said after India thrash Pakistan

SNS

Indian batsman Shikhar Dhawan. (Photo: AFP)


Riding on brilliant centuries from openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, India thrashed Pakistan by nine wickets in yet another clash in the ongoing Asia Cup 2018 in the United Arab Emirates.

Batting first, Sarfraz Ahmed-led Pakistan once again failed to counter India’s disciplined bowling attack as they could only manage to score 237 runs for a loss of seven wickets in their allotted 50 overs.

From the Indian camp, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah picked two wickets each.

Here is what Indian and Pakistani cricketers said after the clash:

Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed: “We made it tough for ourselves by dropping those catches. We were 20-25 runs short and if we would have held on to our catches we could have possibly made things interesting. The boys are doing all the hard work but they’re not able to take those crucial catches. The wicket was a bit difficult to play on in the afternoon as the cracks had widened up. Wasn’t easy for a new batsman walking in. Had we got early wickets, this chase would have been certainly difficult. We have been losing a lot of wickets in the early overs and hence it becomes difficult to recover from such situations. The way they batted, all credit to them. Rohit and Dhawan were exceptional. They have shown better skills as compared to us. We need to work a lot on our skill level if at all we want to get into the final.”

Stand-in Indian skipper Rohit Sharma: “Challenging conditions, well done to the boys. All of them showed great amount of character. We spoke about leaving past performances behind and give out our best today and that is what happened. I think he’s matured as a bowler now, he understands his bowling and I think he understands what fields he needs to set and gotta keep it tight. Bhuvi also did the same. It was important to keep it tight and the spinners also did the same. When you keep them in control that’s the kind of targets you get to chase. ”

Shikhar Dhawan, Man of the match: “I enjoyed my game and I’ve been in good touch and wanted to make the most of it. It’s a good batting track and I have enjoyed the balance of it. Pakistan got a good bowling attack and I knew that as openers we had to stay and once I got set and I kept carrying on. As I’ve mentioned I wanted to be sensible with my shots and I’ve thrown it away in the past and I have learnt the lessons the hard way. The plan was not to lose wickets in the first 10 overs and Rohit played an amazing knock today and he’s very good at converting 50s into 100s and that’s something I’ve learnt from him.”

Here is how cricket fraternity reacted on Twitter:

 

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