‘Buddhe khila k jeete ho, zyada ghamandi mat bano’ – Fans react to Pakistan A beating India A in Emerging Asia Cup 2023

In the final of the Emerging Asia Cup 2023, India A and Pakistan A locked horns in Colombo. Ahead of the game, the Men In Blue won the toss and elected to bowl first. This was the first similarity from the Champions Trophy 2017 final. The second was one a bowler taking a wicket but turning out to be a no-ball.

Rajvardhan Hangargekar did the same and Saim Ayub got a new lease of life. He and Sahibzada Farhan put together 121 runs for the first wicket. However, they started losing wickets quickly and were reduced to 187/5. At this stage, it looked like India is making a comeback. However, the likes of Tayyab Tahir (108) and Mubasir Khan (35) put together 126 runs for the sixth wicket.

This partnership helped the team reach the match-winning score of 352/8. For the former champions, Hangargekar and Riyan Parag took two wickets each.

India failed to chase down the total

In reply, the Men In Blue had a great start as Sai Sudharsan and Abhishek Sharma put together 64 runs in 8.3 overs. Everything was going well before the former got out on a no-ball which wasn’t detected properly by the third umpire. Nikin Jose (11) was also the victim of poor umpiring and was the second wicket to fall.

Sharma (61) was doing well but got out trying to play the cut short. This was the turning point of the game. India batters lost their wickets at regular intervals and with every wicket, the hope of chasing down the record total went into flames. In the end, they were bowled out for 224 runs, losing the game by 128 runs.

This is how Twitter reacted

https://twitter.com/SharyOfficial/status/1683107348699643906?s=20

https://twitter.com/aumamara06/status/1683134867482058755?s=20

https://twitter.com/TheCrickFun/status/1683137549592825858?s=20