India vs Pakistan Asia Cup T20: Player Ratings

The India-Pakistan encounter at the Asia Cup on Saturday turned out to be a dramatic one as Pakistan put in a horrendous batting display after being put into bat by Indian skipper MS Dhoni before Mohammad Amir’s three early wickets put life back into the contest.

However, India’s batting strength came to the fore as Virat Kohli, who continued his fine run against Pakistan, and Yuvraj Singh saw India through with five wickets in hand.

While India’s strongest bowler Ravichandran Ashwin had a rare off-day, all others, especially the young duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, playing their first game against Pakistan, showed no signs of nervousness to put in impressive performances to all but set the match on a platter for the batsmen dismissing the opposition for a paltry total of 83 runs.

Here is how the players from both sides fared in the player ratings.

India

Rohit Sharma 1/10

Addressing the media at the pre-match press conference, Rohit Sharma had said that India was chalking out plans for each of the Pakistani bowler rather than just Mohammad Amir.

But in the 28-year-old’s case Amir needed just two balls to send the in-form batsman back to the pavilion; that too after he should have been given out off the first ball itself after being caught plumb in front of the wickets.

Quick justice was served, however, as he was dismissed in the exact same manner, off the next delivery.

Ajinkya Rahane 1/10

Rahane was lucky to feature in today’s match after an injury to Shikhar Dhawan forced the left-hander out of the playing eleven.

Rahane, however, couldn’t capitalise on the opportunity and followed his opening partner in a similar fashion during Mohammad Amir’s fiery opening over.

Virat Kohli 9/10

Kohli looked pumped up on the field after getting into an altercation with the umpire over the incorrect decision on Manzoor and responded with a direct hit soon after that ended Khurram’s struggle at the crease.

Kohli loves batting against the arch-rivals and today was no different as he played a crucial knock to rescue the Indian run-chase after a disastrous start.

He missed out on what would have been a well-deserved half century, after being given out leg before wicket, once again to his disapproval.

Suresh Raina 5/10

Raina had a good day in the field but suffered during the Amir burst as he ended up gifting a leading edge to the mid-on fielder to become the third Indian batsmen to be dismissed.

Questions will surely be raised again as to whether Raina can survive against quality pacemen, especially in crucial tournaments such as the upcoming World T20.

Yuvraj Singh 6/10

Yuvraj once again exhibited his abilities with the ball dismissing the aggressive Umar Akmal off his very first delivery.

While batting, though, he never looked commanding, but ensured that he stayed in the middle to partner the free-flowing Virat Kohli at the other end, thus ensuring a comfortable victory for India.

MS Dhoni 7/10

Dhoni was spot on in the field right from calling the toss correctly.

He shuffled his bowlers around smartly never allowing the opposition to get away, while he also made no mistake in picking the ball up and running out his Pakistani counterpart Shahid Afridi.

His services were also required with the bat, as the loss of two late wickets brought the Indian skipper to the crease, who settled the nerves, as usual, to see India off to victory.

Hardik Pandey 8/10

Pandya was lucky to pick up the wicket of the experienced Shoaib Malik off a wide delivery but was terrific throughout the day as he made his first match against Pakistan a match to remember.

He kept things tidy with his economical figures and came back into the attack to add the scalps of Mohammad Sami and Mohammad Amir to his name.

Ravindra Jadeja 8/10

VVS Laxman had suggested prior to the game that the Indian team management should think of replacing Jadeja with Bhuvneshwar Kumar in order to exploit the pacer friendly nature of the pitch.

But as he has shown time and again, the energy that Jadeja brings onto the field is something else. He chased down a ball approaching the boundary ropes saving a single and effected the run out to dismiss the dangerous Shahid Afridi.

He could have had another run out to his name, but ended up throwing at the wrong end. But he more than made up for it with two wickets to his name.

Ravichandran Ashwin 3/10

Ashwin has been India’s best bowler by far over the past few months but the off-spinner had a rare off day tonight on a day when his fellow bowlers were almost unstoppable.

He was the sixth bowler used by Dhoni and looked too eager to make up for the lost overs but erred in his line and length and ended up with an economy rate of seven of his three overs.

Ashish Nehra 7/10

Nehra answered Dhoni’s call for an early wicket by dismissing the dangerous Mohammad Hafeez and was unlucky not to add the scalp of Manzoor to his name as the on-field umpire missed a clear glove from the batsman on the way to Dhoni’s gloves.

He was, however, guilty of giving away a few loose run-scoring deliveries to the opposition batsmen.

Jasprit Bumrah 8/10

Ahead of the match, questions were being raised as to how a youngster like Bumrah would handle the pressure in his first match against Pakistan.

He answered the detractors in the perfect style with a terrific maiden first over wherein he had Khurram Manzoor in all sorts of trouble. He went one better in his second over picking up the wicket of Sharjeel Khan who tried to flash too hard only to end up getting caught at slip.

Mohammad Amir was Pakistan’s best performer in this match

Pakistan

Mohammad Hafeez 2/10

Much of Pakistan’s hopes in the batting department lay on the shoulders of the experienced Hafeez and he looked to have gotten off to a good start with a boundary through the cover region off just the second ball he faced.

However, his stay was short-lived as he edged a rising delivery from Ashish Nehra to the keeper’s gloves to trigger off the batting collapse for his side.

Sharjeel Khan 1/10

After having to wait till the third over to face a delivery, the Pakistani opener looked too much in a hurry to get things going and as seen previously in the tournament so far, and the strategy was never going to pay off.

He managed to smash one to the boundary ropes, but ended up being caught at slips off a thick outside edge to give Bumrah his only wicket of the match.

Khurram Manzoor 3/10

Manzoor never looked settled during his 18-ball stay at the crease and was especially left clueless against the awkward action of Bumrah.

He had a lucky escape after an audacious attempt at a leg flick off Nehra resulted in him gloving the delivery to Dhoni, but couldn’t exploit the umpire’s wrong decision, as an incorrect call from partner Shoaib Malik saw him well short of the crease at the non-striker’s end.

Shoaib Malik 1/10

Malik was another batsman who struggled big time during his time in the middle.

Not only did he fail individually, slashing at a wide delivery by Hardik Pandya only to nick it to the wicketkeeper, he was also guilty of making a call for a single and then sending back Manzoor back only for his partner to fall well short of the crease.

Umar Akmal 1/10

Akmal was guilty of playing with the pad in front of his bat as he was caught right in front of the wickets off the first ball from Yuvraj Singh and virtually ended any chances for the Pakistan side to register a 100-plus score.

Sarfraz Ahmed 7/10

Ahmed was the only Pakistani batsman who looked to have a plan on how to bat on the tricky wicket, as he managed to score 24 runs with three boundaries to add a bit of respectability to the Pakistan total.

He perished in the end, however, trying to accelerate the scoring but hard to blame him considering he was running out of partners at the other end.

Shahid Afridi 1/10

Coming to bat at 35/5 one would have expected the Pakistani skipper to show a bit of patience and look at rebuilding the innings, especially considering the fact that he was a part of the last recognisable batting partnership available.

However, he made an ill-fated call to complete a double and that too against the powerful arm of Ravindra Jadeja and found himself well short of the crease.

Wahab Riaz 3/10

It is hard to criticise Riaz’s batting performance when those who were supposed to do the hard work played irresponsibly, but if Pakistan were to have any chance in the match, all the Pakistani bowlers needed to chip in.

That never materialised, and Riaz, in particular, was guilty of gifting freebies to the Indian batsmen conceding 27 runs in his three overs.

Mohammad Sami 6/10

The 34-year-old has been given a new lease of life following his exploits in the PSL and he is showing he still has it in him to trouble the batsmen.

He gave the much-needed support to Sarfraz during the Pakistan innings and followed it up with two late wickets, but the match was done and dusted by then.

Mohammad Amir 9/10

Amir’s fiery opening spell in which he picked up three wickets breathed life into a contest in which Pakistan looked well out of contention after putting up a disastrous batting display.

The left-arm fast bowler made his first appearance against India a memorable one, at least from a personal point of view, picking up the wickets of Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahanae and Suresh Raina.

Mohammad Irfan 5/10

Irfan bowled economically but failed to pick up any wicket in his quota of four overs – something Pakistan were desperately looking for.