MATCH REPORT
Follow UsIndia couldn’t have asked for a better start, they won the toss, and they were well and truly aware of the conditions in Colombo. Yash Dhull won the toss and didn’t hesitate when he said, “We will have a bowl first”.
In hindsight, the decision looks like a joke. But had India A made the fullest use of conditions, or had Rajvardhan Hangargekar not overstepped the line, the result might have been slightly different. But as India A witnessed it first hand, Pakistan A blew them out of proportion, like J Robert Oppenheimer.
Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan both have played a handful of games for Pakistan in the shortest format, but by no means are they established cricketers on the circuit. Both of them walked out to bat like they had blood on their hands and put India under pressure immediately with some glorious shots.
Manav Suthar delivered the first break for India when he dismissed Ayub for 59 before an unlucky slip cost Sahibzada Farhan his wicket, giving India a sniff at 146/2. A partnership was brewing well between Omair Yousuf and Tayyab Tahir before Riyan Parag’s brilliant catch ended the dangerous partnership.
From thereon, it was Tayyab stealing the limelight, with perhaps one of the most important knocks of his career, smashing 108 off just 71 deliveries, with 12 fours and four sixes, and also built a crucial partnership with Mubasir Khan, which led Pakistan to a monumental total of 352/8.
"It's the efforts of all the players and the coach, that at the start we decided we will get a flow and lot let it go. So even when we lost some wickets, we did not want to take the foot off the pedal. Mudasir had a good plan, that we will slow the momentum out,” said Tayyab in the post-match presentation.
Tayyab wasn’t the only surprise in store for India A, given how he wasn’t part of the previous fixture against the same opposition. When India walked out to bat, there came Sufiyan Muqeem out of the syllabus.
Sufiyan was one of the other players who weren’t part of the earlier fixture between the two sides, as Pakistan’s head coach insisted that he was an ‘ace’ that they didn’t want to expose. Sai Sudharsan and Abhishek Sharma picked the pace and started the run-chase sublimely.
Arshad Iqbal struck first, with his pace beating Sudharsan (29), as India lost their first wicket on 64. While it was dangerously close to being a no-ball, it gave Pakistan a real opportunity to make a telling impact on the clash. Mohammad Wasim then removed Nikin Jose, with the right-handed Indian batter walking visibly disappointed with the decision.
While Abhishek and Yash Dhull put on a show, Sufiyan made his impact felt with the wicket of the southpaw, who was looking dangerous on 61 off 51 deliveries. The left-arm unorthodox spinner then removed Dhull with a flighted delivery for 39.
Mehran Mumtaz struck twice to dismiss Dhruv Jurel and Riyan Parag, as the rest of the match seemed like a formality. Barring Abhishek, none of the Indian batters scored more than 50 runs in the innings, with Dhull’s 39 being the second-highest score for the Boys in Blue.
"They batted very well, we controlled it well in the middle, but they batted well. It was a big target but we played some poor shots. We played some bad shots [at three wickets down] and went down from there. None of us have played international cricket so it was a good platform for us to play and a good environment,” Dhull said in the post-match presentation.
Pakistan skipper Mohammad Harris was also elated with the display against India, with the Pakistan Shaheens winning the ACC Emerging Asia Cup by a huge margin of 128 runs. Harris pointed out that the wickets of Sudharsan and Abhishek were ‘crucial’ for Pakistan.
“We had shown the videos of the Indian batters to our bowlers. Sai Sudharsan and Abhishek were their main players and we thought that if we could get them out early, it would help us. I am very happy with how the boys are motivated,” Harris said in the post-match presentation.
