Cricket Update: Pakistan’s Asia Cup performance, India Triumph
We shouldn’t be surprised by the fact that Pakistan has once again lost in the Asia Cup 2010. If we see the history of the Asia Cup, this One Day international cricket tournament started in 1983. Initially it was scheduled to be held every two years. There has been 11 tournaments of Asia Cup since 1983 and Pakistan won only once in 2000, when tournament was played in Bangladesh, when they beat Sri Lanka in the finals.
India is winning this tournament for the 5th time; the very first tournament won was in 1984. Sri Lanka, on the other hand won the tournament 4 times. If we talk about the figures, Sri Lanka has played 40 matches out of which they won 29 and lost 11. India played 36 matches out of which 22 were won and 13 were lost. Pakistan played 31 out of which they won 18 and lost 12 and Bangladesh played 29 out of which they won 2 and lost 27 in the Asia World Cup.
In Asia Cup 2010, Pakistan had a strong team with players who came back after long time like Shoaib Akhtar and Shoaib Malik. Captain, Shahid Afridi also played very well and became the “Man of the Tournament”. Overall, the team’s performance was not very bad. On the other hand, Indian had a bad patch recently after deafening out early in T20 World Cup this year. India’s captain Dhoni’s performance had been watched closely by the coach and former cricketers after India’s miserable run in the T20 World Cup. Playing with Bangladesh was very easy for everyone this time. Overall, every team had some good talented players but only those teams could make the difference which was good in their fielding.
Pakistan’s match with India was very challenging and interesting and both teams played well but as everyone says, one has to lose against the other. India won the match as Harbhajan Singh smashed the penultimate ball from Mohammad Aamer for a six and India knocked Pakistan out of the Asia Cup. India scored 52 runs in just the last five overs, right after their 6th wicket had fallen at 219. Pakistan’s fielding was not very good, as they dropped a number of catches. On the whole, it was a great match of cricket and enjoyed by all. The Indians batted really well and their batting in the last few overs was amazing.
Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first. Salman Butt (74) and Kamran Akmal (51 off 41 balls) were the main contributors in Pakistan's 267 all out. However, it wasn’t enough and Harbhajan Singh settled the issue by hitting a six at the end to take the Indian team to the finals. Butt, started Pakistan's innings very well by sharing stands of 71 and 73 with Imran Farhat and Shoaib Malik. They reached 144-1 but then they started losing wickets. Umar Akmal made 21 and Shahid Afridi made 32 off 25 balls. Kamran, proved himself by hitting three sixes and two fours before he was caught off Praveen Kumar, who took 3-53. Abdul Razzaq only managed three and failed to make a significant contribution. India also started their innings positively.
India seemed to be in full control as Gambhir and Dhoni shared a third-wicket partnership of 98 in 18 overs. It was an end when Gambhir, who made 82 in the previous game against Bangladesh, was bowled by Saeed Ajmal. The India went under pressure as Rohit Sharma scored only 22 followed by two more wickets, including Dhoni, as India slumped from 208-3 to 219-6. Then Suresh Raina and Harbhajan played well and added 43 runs before Raina was run out for 34. Kumar knotted 3 from the next 2 deliveries, by leaving India behind only 3 runs short of their target. Finally, Harbhajan made India won the match by hitting a six.
Nevertheless, Pakistanis were little satisfied by the fact that Shahid Afridi was declared as the Man of the Series for his outstanding performance in ASIA CUP 2010. He was prized a TATA INDIGO MANZA SUV car for scoring 2 centuries in 3 matches and a total scoring of 265 Runs in 3 matches.
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