IND vs PAK 2022: India Player Ratings as Hardik Pandya leads Men in Blue to thrilling win vs Pakistan
Hardik Pandya's stunning all-round show led Team India to a thrilling five-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in Match 2 of the 2022 Asia Cup at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday, August 28.
After winning the toss and electing to bowl, India made inroads throughout the Pakistan innings, which needed a late burst from tail-enders Haris Rauf and Shahnawaz Dahani to reach 147. Although the Men in Blue were put on the backfoot early on, contributions from Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja kept them in the hunt before Pandya finished things off in the final over.
Here are India's player ratings from their Asia Cup encounter against Pakistan.
Asia Cup 2022: Bhuvneshwar, Hardik shine as India make winning start
KL Rahul: 1/10
Rahul lasted only one ball, playing a half-hearted dab down to third man and seeing the resultant inside-edge cannon onto his stumps. The batter has looked woefully short of confidence of late.
Rohit Sharma: 1/10
India's skipper had a poor outing too. He dropped a tough chance in the final over of the Pakistan innings and labored to 12 off 18 balls before being caught in the deep. Rohit's intent was sorely lacking on Sunday.
Virat Kohli: 6/10
Kohli lived a charmed life in the middle, with barely any deliveries finding the middle of his bat. He struggled to 35 off 34 before a thoroughly pedestrian shot saw him caught at long-off, just like Rohit. However, in the context of the game, his runs turned out to be quite important.
Suryakumar Yadav: 3/10
Batting at No. 5, Suryakumar hit a run-a-ball 18 before slogging wildly across the line and losing his stumps to Naseem Shah. India needed a little more application from a man who's arguably been their best batter in T20Is recently.
Hardik Pandya: 10/10
Pandya didn't put a foot wrong against Pakistan. His short-ball barrage yielded three important wickets in the middle overs as he bowled his quota of four overs economically. The all-rounder then turned up with the bat, playing a supremely confident innings laced with four fours and the match-winning six.
Dinesh Karthik: 7/10
Tasked with the gloves as India dropped Rishabh Pant, Karthik put in a tidy performance, claiming three catches. He was required to face only one ball in the second innings.
Ravindra Jadeja: 8.5/10
Jadeja squeezed in a couple of tight overs shortly after the powerplay. Being the only left-handed batter in the team, he earned a promotion to No. 4 and struck two sixes to inject some momentum into the Indian innings. His 29-ball 35 bailed India out of a tight spot, although it must be said that he really should've finished things off in the final over.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar: 9/10
Bhuvneshwar was excellent for India as he scalped the all-important wicket of Pakistan captain Babar Azam with a well-disguised short ball in the powerplay before returning at the death to record three more victims. He has been in terrific form in T20Is of late.
Yuzvendra Chahal: 5/10
Chahal went wicketless in his four-over spell and had only himself to blame as he shelled a fairly straightforward caught-and-bowled chance. The penetration that usually characterizes his bowling was missing in his first T20I outing against Pakistan.
Avesh Khan: 4/10
Avesh ended up with the wicket of Fakhar Zaman in the two overs he bowled, but he proved to be the weak link in the Indian attack once again. The pacer leaked 19 runs as Hardik was preferred over him in the middle overs.
Arshdeep Singh: 6/10
Arshdeep copped some unexpected stick at the death, but he still returned two wickets. While the left-armer wasn't at his absolute best against Pakistan, he showed what he's capable of with a wide range of deliveries.