IND vs PAK 2022: "That dropped catch proved to be very costly, you could see that from the captain's reaction as well" - Virender Sehwag on the difference between the two sides in a close encounter

Former opening batter Virender Sehwag feels Arshdeep Singh's dropped catch proved to be costly for India during their Asia Cup 2022 clash against Pakistan. The Men in Blue suffered a five-wicket loss against their arch-rivals in their opening match of the Super 4s stage on September 4.

The game at the Dubai International Stadium was in the balance heading into its final stages. With 34 required off the last three overs, Ravi Bishnoi came on to bowl his final over. The young leg-spinner induced a miscued shot from Asif Ali which went straight up in the air towards Arshdeep Singh at short third-man.

It seemed like a regulation catch, but the left-arm pacer failed to hold onto the chance. It proved to be very costly as Ali went on to score 16 valuable runs off eight deliveries to lead his side to victory.

Opining that India were arguably in the driving seat until the last couple of overs, Sehwag said on Cricbuzz:

"When 26 were needed off two overs, expectations were that India will win the match. That dropped catch proved to be very costly, you could see that from the captain's reaction as well."

Noting that Asif Ali was a dangerous batter at the back end of the innings, Sehwag added:

"Asif Ali has won Pakistan a lot of games from a similar situation. Credit goes to Pakistan, although had Arshdeep claimed the match, India might have won."

Pakistan's designated finisher took on Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the penultimate over, which went for 19 runs, to swing the contest back in his team's favor. While lost his wicket to Arshdeep Singh in the final over, he took Pakistan close to the target.

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"India conceded way too many extras" - Virender Sehwag on India's bowling performance

Defending 181, Rohit Sharma’s side had a decent start with the ball as the bowling attack once again managed to dismiss Babar Azam early on. However, India were poor in the middle overs after failing to contain the promoted Mohammad Nawaz, who scored 42 runs off just 20 deliveries.

They also bowled eight extras, out of which six were wides.

Claiming that those extra runs played a huge role in their loss, Sehwag said:

"The first mistake was the dropped catch, and the second one I feel is that India conceded way too many extras. I am a captain who is fine with the bowler getting hit for boundaries, but no extra balls should be bowled, that gets very expensive in the end."

Five of the six wide deliveries India bowled came in the 18th and the 19th over of the innings, which eased a bit of the pressure on Pakistan. It also enabled them to score more runs off the extra deliveries.

The Men in Blue will hope to learn from their errors when they take on Sri Lanka next at the Dubai International Stadium on September 6.

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