IND vs PAK: How Jadeja's Promotion To #4 Cost Pakistan A Close Match Against Arch-Rivals India

In the 2nd match of the Asia Cup 2022, India managed to get their revenge for their 10-wicket loss in the T20 World Cup last year, defeating Pakistan by 5 wickets to start the tournament with a win. Hardik Pandya was the hero of the match with his 3 wickets with the ball and 33* (17) with the bat. 

After India won the toss & opted to field first, Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck with the big wicket of Babar Azam in the third over. In-form Fakhar Zaman was dismissed in the 6th over by Avesh Khan, after which Hardik's picked up three wickets (Iftikhar Ahmed (28), Mohammad Rizwan (43) & Khushdil (2)) to crumble the Pakistani batting, halting them to 147/10 in 19.5 overs. 

India were not off to a great start as they lost KL Rahul in the first over for a golden duck. Rohit Sharma (12) and Virat Kohli etched a partnership of 49 runs for the second wicket, although Pakistan bowlers seemed all over the batters with excellent bowling. However, the game changed when Rohit Sharma was dismissed in the 8th over, and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was sent in to bat at #4. 

Now, with the likes of Suryakumar Yadav & Hardik Pandya still remaining to bat, this decision seemed out of place. However, Rishabh Pant was excluded from the playing 11 to give the spot to Dinesh Karthik, which left India with all right-handed batters except Jadeja. Hence, the left-handed all-rounder was sent in to bat earlier than he is used to. 

This forced Babar Azam to not bring back left-arm orthodox bowler Mohammad Nawaz into the attack. And the decision to send Jadeja ahead worked perfectly for India, as the all-rounder first etched a partnership of 36 runs with Suryakumar Yadav for the 4th wicket and a crucial 29-ball-52 run partnership with Hardik Pandya which ultimately won the match for India. 

Ravindra Jadeja scored 35 runs in 29 balls with 2 fours & 2 sixes, as batted till the 20th over while coming in to bat in the 8th over. Mohammad Nawaz, who was held back because of Jadeja, proved costly for Pakistan as they couldn't pick many wickets in the middle-overs. However, Nawaz came on to bowl the 20th over and dismissed Ravindra Jadeja on the first delivery, but India required only 7 runs to win at the point. 

Also Read: Asia Cup 2022 Scorecard

Hardik Pandya, the player of the match, finished the match off with a six on the fourth delivery to seal the win for team India. India will take on Hong Kong on August 31st (Wednesday) in their second group match where a win will confirm their berth for the Super Four stage.