Asia Cup 2022: Flaws that denied Babar Azam's Pakistan victory in nail-biter against India
India Today
Asia Cup 2022, Match 2: Pakistan lost to India by five wickets on Sunday, August 28 and will now face Nizakat Khan's Hong Kong in their last Group A match.
It was agony for Pakistan on Super Sunday. The Men in Green had every chance of beating India in the Asia Cup 2022 Group A match. But that wasn't the case as India won the match by five wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Last year at the same venue in Dubai, Pakistan defeated India by 10 wickets in the T20 World Cup 2022. But they couldn't quite replicate their performance on August 28.
After India won the toss and opted to field first, fortunes changed time and again. In the end, Hardik Pandya's three-wicket haul and a timely knock of 33 off 17 sealed the deal for the Men in Blue.
Pakistan, in the meantime, had loads of chances to get the upper hand over India, but they kept letting India off the hook. India were too good a team to not take advantage of Pakistan's missed opportunities.
Right from the word go, Pakistan had their fair share of troubles while facing quality short-pitched bowling. After the match, former batter Salman Butt said that Pakistan's ability to face short balls has persisted since Mickey Arthur's stint as the head coach.
Indian bowlers churned out hard lengths on a slow surface and Pakistan batters had minimal answers. Arguably two of their best batters, Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam, perished to short balls from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya respectively.
The likes of Khushdil Shah and Fakhar Zaman also failed to handle the well-directed bouncers from Indian bowlers. It's pretty evident now that other teams would want to exploit Pakistan's shortcomings.
