The excitement was palpable at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele as India and Pakistan locked horns in Match 3 of the Asia Cup 2023 on Saturday, September 02. Despite the chances of rain during the game, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first.
Pakistan seamers Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi took advantage of the favourable overcast conditions and made the ball dance to their tunes. Afridi in particular looked at his menacing best as he set up both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and managed to get their prized scalps to bring India on the backfoot early on.
Afridi first breached the defence of the Indian skipper and destroyed his stumps in the fifth over just after the rain interruption. The left-arm seamer first shaped the ball away from Sharma twice and later on brought one back into him sharply that went on to hit the stumps.
Following Sharma’s dismissal, Kohli walked to the crease and meant business as he brought out a scrumptious cover drive against Naseem Shah on just his fourth delivery. However, he chopped the ball back onto his stumps in the next over against Afridi leaving India reeling at 27/2.
Watch Kohli’s dismissal here:
Virat Kohli got out in a similar style of KL Rahul got out last year .. match over ;pic.twitter.com/0mxvh4jvCI
— Kanhaiya Lal Saran (@SaranKL_) September 2, 2023
Shreyas Iyer once again falls prey to short-ball
Notably, in the build-up to the match, there were widespread talks of Indian batters’ battle with Afridi who also famously wreaked havoc on them during the T20 World Cup 2021. The 23-year-old had dismissed the trio of Sharma, KL Rahul and Kohli which helped Pakistan register their first win over India in World Cups.
Meanwhile, after losing Kohli and Sharma early, Shreyas Iyer looked in good touch as he raced to 14 off just eight balls. However, his innings was cut short by Haris Rauf in the tenth over who once again exposed his old weakness against short balls. Iyer pulled a short delivery straight to mid-wicket leaving India in all sorts of trouble at 48/3.