‘Aaj baarish nahi bachayega pak ke pacers ko’ – Fans react as India openers tear apart Pakistan pace attack in Asia Cup 2023 Super Fours clash

Another high-intensity encounter of the 2023 Asia Cup is currently underway at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo as arch-rivals India and Pakistan clash in the Super Fours on Sunday. The game went smoothly without any delay after Pakistan won the toss and opted to field first. However, the weather gods were not kind enough as the rain came to play spoilsport in the 25th over, forcing the players and umpires to take a short break.

Meanwhile, the first half of India’s batting innings had enough moments for fans of both teams to cheer, but this time it was the Men in Blue who had the upper hand. With Pakistan pace sensation Shaheen Afridi opening the attack, the ‘Green Army’ expected a cracking start like in the previous match. But the Indian openers had some other plans this time and dominated the whole time until they were at the crease.

Shaheen threw his fiery deliveries against Rohit Sharma, who had no answer for the first five balls, but gave a reply in the final delivery with a maximum and hinted at what was to come. Two overs later, Shubman Gill joined the party with his skipper, hitting three boundaries against Shaheen. Pakistan’s pace unit and skipper Babar Azam had no clue against the Indian opening pair’s destructive batting.

A hundred-run partnership in just 80 balls!

In their previous encounter, Pakistan pacers have dominated, especially Shaheen, who has taken four wickets, including Rohit and Virat Kohli. In today’s game, the left-arm seamer’s first three overs went for 31 runs. Gill scored his half-century in just 36 balls while Rohit achieved this feat in 42 balls. The duo completed a 100-run partnership for the first wicket in 13.2 balls.

Just when Gill and Rohit looked set to turn their good start into a grand one, right-arm spinner Shadab Khan applied the brakes by dismissing Rohit in the 17th over and dispersed the dangerous 121-run partnership. In the very next over, Shaheen gave Pakistan another breakthrough by removing Gill. Rohit scored 56 off 49 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes while Gill’s 52 off 58 balls included 10 boundaries.

India now needs a new partnership between Kohli (8 off 16) and KL Rahul (17 off 28). Both looked good at the crease but rain halted play with the scoreboard reading 147/2 in 24.1 overs.

Here’s how fans reacted to India openers’ blazing knock against Pakistan: