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Match 1 Saturday 27th August 2022
was Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka which Afghanistan won comprehensively as they dominated the match from the start. Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bowl first. The Afghanistan bowlers backed their captain's decision and bowled the Sri Lankans out for 105 before they chased the total in 10.1 overs to win by eight wickets.
Afghanistan bowlers were exceptionally good with their line and lengths as the took advantage of the seam movement on offer to reduce Sri Lanka to 5-3 in the first 3 overs. Then Gunathilaka and Rajapaksa put together a partnership of 44 that looked like it would bring back Sri Lanka into the game, but Afghanistan bowlers didn't let them take advantage of the plat form set and took wickets at regular intervals in the middle period to restrict the Sri Lankan batsman and not let them form any partnership of significance as they were bowled out for 105.
Afghanistan openers made quick work of the chase as they raced to a partnership of 83 from 37 delivery's before Rahmanullah Gurbaz fell for 40 of 18. Ibrahim Zadran was run out unluckily as a ball deflected of the bowler's hand onto the stumps after the batsman on strike played straight back to the bowler, this was a little to late for Sri Lanka as Afghanistan only needed 3 runs to win by then and chased it down comfortably as they pulled off a dominating win against the Sri Lankans in the opening encounter of the Asia cup 2022.
Match 2 Sunday 28th August 2022
This was a last over thriller, which was won by India. The match started win India winning the toss and choosing to bowl first. The Indian bowlers started off well, but Babar Azam looked like he was going to take the game away before Kumar got him with a short ball a trend that we would see throughout the night as the Indian bowlers used the Shot ball to get the first 5 Pakistani wickets which is not a good sign for Pakistan considering the world cup is in Australia and this could be an opening off a weakness for other teams to exploit in the time come.
Pakistan were eventually bowled out for 147 in 19.5 overs as the lower order showed some fight in getting them to a respectable total. The stars with the ball for India were Bhuvneshwar Kumar with 4-26 from 4 overs and Hardik Pandya with 3-25 from 4 overs. The rest of the Indian bowlers were not bad at all they bowled well also.
In reply India got off to a shaky start as Rahul was out in the first over. The Indian Innings was then Stabilized by the experienced duo of Rohit and Kohli. The 2 put together a partnership of 49 off 46 deliveries before both were out in quick succession to give Pakistan a glimer of hope that they can still win the match as their spin twins seemed to have settled but India countered the Pakistan spin threat by sending in Jadeja at No4 to change to angle and after he hit Nawaz to the boundary a few times the Pakistan captain pull his left arm spinner out of the attack in hope that one off his pacers would get the left handed batter Jadeja out and he could bring back his spinner for his last over but things did not go to plan as Jadeja and Pandya took the game away from Pakistan who pushed themselves into a trap as they had to bowl a spinner in the closing stages of the innings as the Pakistani bowlers struggled with cramps due to the humidity. Pandya took advantage off a struggling Haris Rauf 19th over to leave India needing 7 off the last over to win. The last over would start with a wicket but Pandya would ensure India would get over the line with two balls to spare.
This was a thrilling encounter between the 2 Asian Giants, and I wish all the best to both teams.
The Asia cup Group A and Group B Table.
Writer: Ebrahim Yusuf Omar
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