Team India defeated Pakistan by a massive margin of 228 runs in the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup 2023 on September 11 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. However, cricket fans couldn’t understand why Pakistan played with 8 wickets in the crucial Asia Cup clash which is explained in this article.
Pakistan lost their 8 wickets at the end of 32 overs after scoring just 128 runs. This allowed the Indian team to get those crucial 2 points which will help them to qualify for the Asia Cup 2023 final. Meanwhile, fans are asking, why did Pakistan stop at 8 wickets? Why Pakistan lost after 8 wickets? Here’s the answer
Here’s why Pakistan played with 8 wickets in the crucial Asia Cup 2023 clash
Pakistan speedster Haris Rauf was ruled out of the game on the reserve day as he felt a little discomfort in his right flank during the game on September 10. He was subsequently taken for a precautionary MRI, which revealed no tear but the team management decided not to take any risk ahead of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023.
On the other hand, young pacer Naseem Shah was seen holding his hand while walking off the field during the 49th over of the Indian innings. Iftekhar Ahmed had to bowl the final Four deliveries of the over in place of Naseem.
Kuldeep Yadav single-handedly destroyed the strong Pakistani lineup. Kuldeep took 5 key wickets out of 8 for just 25 runs, leading India to victory, the biggest by 228 runs against Pakistan in the history of cricket. Kudos 🙏👏#KuldeepYadav pic.twitter.com/LimNoi6nNq
— सम्राट अशोक ( 𑀤𑁂𑀯𑀸𑀦𑀁𑀧𑀺𑀬 𑀧𑀺𑀬𑀤𑀲𑀺 )𓃵 (@Devanampriya306) September 11, 2023
Off-spinner Iftekhar Ahmed bowled the remaining 5 overs of Haris Rauf’s spell as he didn’t take the field on the reserve day. Both Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf didn’t come to get in the Pakistan innings and hence Pakistan played with just 8 wickets against India in the all-important Asia Cup 2023 contest.
Just after getting the wicket of Faheem Ashraf, the Men in Blue started celebrating and the players had customary handshakes. It was then revealed that Naseem and Haris won’t bat as a precautionary measure.
Earlier, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill smashed fifties to provide the kind of start Men in Blue needed in the crunch game. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul then put on an incredible partnership for the third wicket and both the batters scored their respective hundreds as well.
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Jasprit Bumrah quickly got rid of Imam Ul Haq and got enough support from Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur and Hardik Pandya on a spicy Colombo wicket. Chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav then bowled a heroic spell and took a 5-wicket haul as he didn’t allow any Pakistan middle-order batter to settle down on the pitch leading his side to victory.