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Asia Cup 2018 | Who said what after India crush Pakistan

SNS

Rohit Sharma (Photo: AFP)


Riding on strong bowling performance of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kedar Jadhav, India thrashed arch-rivals Pakistan by eight wickets in their Group A clash of the Asia Cup cricket tournament on Wednesday.

Put to field first, India restricted Pakistan to a paltry 162 powered by two three-wicket hauls from pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar and part-time off-spinner Kedar Jadhav. Bhuvneshwar returned figures of 3/15 while Jadhav got 3/23.

In reply, a quickfire half-century by Rohit Sharma and his 86-run opening stand with Shikhar Dhawan saw India comfortably overhaul the target with 21 overs to spare.

Rohit plundered 52 runs off 39 deliveries, hitting six boundaries and three sixes along the way.

Dhawan scored 46 runs off 54 balls before a loose shot to a Faheem Ashraf delivery handed an easy catch to Babar Azam at point.

Following the duo’s departure, Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik ensured that India crossed the line without losing any more wickets.

Here is what who said after India outshine Pakistan:

Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed: “The start was not at all good. We lost two wickets in the first five overs. We got some momentum in the middle but again lost wickets and could not recover. We batted poorly and all of us played poor shots to get out. We had prepared for the two spinners but the third one chipped in with wickets. We will come back better prepared next time.”

Stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma: “We wanted to learn from the mistakes which we made in the last game. Today was a great game for the bowling department because I knew the conditions weren’t great for it. But we kept the conditions aside and did the job. We stuck to our plans. We wanted to make sure not to make things easy for them. The first few overs disciplined and the spinners took on from there. It was important for us to just stick to the plans which the guys did.”

Bhuvneshwar Kumar: “It was a great bowling effort. Great to see Jadhav step up in the absence of Hardik Pandya. It’s important to bowl back of a length and try to hit the stumps, give yourselves a chance. Key is not to give too many runs and force the batsmen to make mistakes. Perhaps due to the heat, Hardik got injured as he was playing in England and couldn’t adjust to the different conditions here. Not easy for the bowlers.”

Here is how the cricket fraternity reacted on Twitter:

 

-With IANS inputs.

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