Twitter Reactions: Exceptional Indian bowlers and fielders skittle Pakistan for 162

The marquee clash between India and Pakistan got underway and much to the disappointment of the crowd, only one team arrived to the scene. Right from the word go, it was India who kept the pressure on the opposition and bossed the game. Despite losing the toss, their bowlers and fielders made sure that they were ahead in the game at the halfway mark and are now favourites to win it as well.

It all started with Bhuvneshwar Kumar nipping out the openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq early in the innings and it set the tone for the whole innings. Both the batsmen played poor and unnecessary shots. The duo of Shoaib Malik and Babar Azam then played very well and rebuilt the innings. But the run-rate was always below par which kept them under the lid.

The partnership of 82-run was threatening to take the game away from India but Kuldeep Yadav bowled a sensational delivery to send back the well-set Babar on 47 which triggered a collapse.

Middle-order collapses

His wicket proved to be the turning point in the game as Pakistan succumbed to some superb spin bowling. Hardik Pandya got injured in the meantime which forced Rohit Sharma to introduce Kedar Jadhav into the attack and it worked wonders for India. He picked the wicket of Sarfraz Ahmed thanks to the brilliance of Manish Pandey in the deep and then Shoaib Malik was run-out to shelve their hopes of posting a good total.

Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Amir kept India away from a wicket for a brief period then and Pakistan crossed 150 by then to give their fans something to cheer about. But the duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were extremely clinical on the day as they didn’t give Pakistan any chance to make a comeback. Eventually, they were bundled out for a paltry total of 162 runs in the 44th over.

Jadhav and Bhuvi finished with three wickets each as Bumrah picked a couple which helped them to skittle their arch-rivals for a low total. It will be interesting to see how the chase will pan out and surely India will be favourites now.

Here’s how Twitter reacted during the course of the innings:

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