Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav has picked the first drinks break in Pakistan’s batting innings as the turning point of the match. Yadav noted that his bowlers were able to improve their line and length to make a comeback in the match.
After the 10-over mark, Pakistan were blazing away at 91-1 but in the next half of the innings, the Men in Green could only manage 80 runs and also lost four wickets. India was poor in the field as they dropped four catches but the bowlers’ execution was a tad better from the 10th over onwards.
In the end, India registered a comfortable six-wicket win to continue their domination against Pakistan after Abhishek Sharma scored a match-winning knock of 74 runs.
Suryakumar Yadav said in the post-match presentation, “I felt the wicket would be the same for 40 overs, which was the case. The wicket always plays better under lights. The first drinks break in the first innings was the turning point. After the drinks break, players changed their body language and made a comeback. Usually the game changes after the powerplay. But today, the game changed after the 10th over when bowlers changed their line and lengths.”
On the other hand, Shivam Dube returned with impressive figures of 2-33 in the four overs and SKY lauded the all-rounder for his match-changing spell. Dube accounted for Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub.
SKY added, “According to me, Shivam Dube’s spell could be considered the turning point of the game. He’s been working really hard on his bowling in all the practice sessions. This was the perfect game where he got an opportunity. He always wanted to bowl minimum two overs and today he got to bowl quota of full overs, so he was very happy. The way he delivered, I think he had clear plans.”
India will next take on Bangladesh at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Wednesday.