Asia Cup 2012, India Vs Pakistan: A match for the record books
Both India and Pakistan, have had most of their most memorable moments against each other. From Miandad’s last ball six to Kumble’s 10 wickets in an innings to India’s perfect record against them in the World Cup, and the list goes on.
One such was is the match between them at the 2012 Asia Cup. This match saw not one but two Asia Cup record being created.
India owing to its loss against Bangladesh in the previous match needed to win this match to stay alive in the tournament. The venue of the match was Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur, Bangladesh.
Pakistan had won the toss and elected to bat first. Their openers, Mohammed Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed gave them a steady start.
At the end of the first 10 overs, Pakistan were 51/0. The run rate was under control, but Pakistan still had 10 wickets in hand, to create sufficient damage for the Indians.
Pakistan reached 121/0 at the end of the 20th over. Between the 17th and the 19th overs, they had scored 36 runs. By the end of the 35th over they were 218/0, with both batsmen past their centuries.
In the 36th over India got the much-needed breakthrough, when Jamshed (112) was caught by Irfan Pathan off the bowling of Ravichandran Ashwin.
After a couple of balls, Hafeez (105) was also out, declared lbw off the bowling of Dinda.
The first wicket partnership between Hafeez and Jamshed was for 224 runs. This was the record for the highest partnership in the history of Asia Cup.
Following the dismissals of both the openers, valuable contributions from Umar Akmal (28) and Younis Khan (52), saw Pakistan reach 329/6 at the end of 50 overs. Praveen Kumar and Dinda had managed to take two wickets each.
In response, India had the most disastrous start. Gautam Gambhir was dismissed for a nought in the second ball he faced. In came Virat Kohli, who had Sachin Tendulkar for company at the other end.
They began to slowly rebuild the innings. At the end of the 10th over India were almost neck and neck with Pakistan at 58/1.
The 19th over saw the batsmen taking 17 runs off Wahab Riaz with Kohli scoring 15 of them. India last their second wicket in the 20th over, when Sachin was out after scoring 52. India at the end of the 20th over were 133/2. Kohli with Rohit Sharma for company, reached his century at the 30th over.
India (187/2 at the end of the 30th over) needed 143 runs from the last 20 overs to win at an asking rate of 7.15. In the next 10 overs, India managed to score 60 runs.
The asking rate had now crept up to 8.30 to win. The next three overs saw India hit the accelerator, as they scored 36 runs from them.
Kohli brought up his 150 in the 42nd over. In the same over he hit Wahab Riaz for three consecutive fours. Rohit was the next to fall in the 46th over after scoring 68 runs. India was 305/3 at that stage. In the next over India scored 11 runs off Aizaz Cheema.
12 runs to win off 18 balls. Virat Kohli was out the first ball of the 48th over. He had scored 183 runs, comprising of 22 fours and one six. This was the highest individual score by a batsman in the Asia Cup.
Dhoni and Suresh Raina scored the remaining runs to get India the win. In typical Dhoni style, he had hit a boundary for the winning runs. Kohli was adjudged the Man of the Match.
But the tournament did not end for India on a happy note. India inspite of being on the same points as Bangladesh did not qualify for the finals.
Since Bangladesh had defeated India in the group stage, it was they who went through to the Finals. The 2012, Asia Cup was won by Pakistan. Kohli, who had scored 357 runs in the three matches he played was the leading run-getter of the tournament.