India made it two wins out of two in the 2016 Asia Cup after beating Pakistan by five wickets in their second match at Mirpur. After winning the toss, MS Dhoni would have been pleased with the effort of his bowlers, who did brilliantly to reduce Pakistan to their third-lowest T20I total
In response, Mohammad Amir ensured India didn't get off to a good start as he dismissed both openers for 0, but Virat Kohli's 49 ensured India got home comfortably, even if he was unfairly given out lbw after inside edged it onto his pads.
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Would like to congratulate Amir: Kohli
For his 49, Virat Kohli won the Man of the Match. He said: "It wasn't an easy wicket to bat, I wasn't happy with myself in the last game, where I went too hard at the ball, I had to respect the conditions, I made mistakes in the last innings but I dug in this time ... I would like to congratulate Mohammad Amir for the way he bowled, I actually congratulated him while he was bowling.
“It was amazing to play such a spell. Counterattacking is the game I play, that's why I bat at no.3 but sometimes you have to respect the conditions and play that way. It is very important to be able to change your shot at the last moment in such conditions ... you need to be switched on mentally, stay calm and relaxed.”
Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi wasn’t happy with his team’s performance. He said: "We have played so much cricket, we should have read the pitch, we did not play according to the pitch, if we lose 4-5 batsmen in the first six overs we can't score 140.
We had to read the situation, Kohli was an example and Yuvi. if we had survived the fast bowlers there wasn't much turn on the pitch for their spinners.”
Dhoni praises India’s fielders
Indian captain MS Dhoni was full of praise for both his fast bowlers and his fielders.
"We are a team that loves to play aggressive cricket but this pushes us to respect the conditions which will be good going into the WT20. I'm glad we restricted them to 85 runs, 100 or 110 runs and the game was on,” he said.
“The fast bowlers did well but even after that, we took wickets at regular intervals which is crucial to stop runs in this format ... We have to be switched on in the field, that is one department where you can guarantee performance, one run out can take the game away from the opposition."
Here is how the cricketing fraternity reacted to India's win.
There was plenty of praise for Virat Kohli: Harsha Bhogle:
Aakash Chopra:
Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar:
Legendary Pakistani bowler Wasim Akram was happy with what he saw from Amir:
Virender Sehwag was enjoying the game:
Tom Moody wasn't happy with the performance of the Pakistani players:
Harsha Bhogle was full of praise for Jadeja and Bumrah:
India's 2007 World T20 winning bowler RP Singh:
Former Indian batsman Subramaniam Badrinath:
Former Indian women’s' captain Anjum Chopra:
Aakash Chopra:
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