Pakistan pacers never fail to amaze the cricket world and the same was the case after their impeccable display with the ball against India.
In their encounter against arch-rivals India in the second match of the ongoing Asia Cup 2023, they have once again proved why Pakistan is called "the Land of Pacers".
This impeccable display by the Pakistani pacers has gathered applause from big names in the cricketing world
Shaheen Shah Afridi — the epitome of terror for the openers — once again shattered India's top order in the first overs and gave Pakistan a breakthrough as he removed two of the Blues' most experienced batters.
Rohit Sharma has had a history of struggling against left-arm pacers, especially against Pakistan, and the trend continued today as Afridi trapped him with a perfect setup in the fourth over.
After two outswingers, the 23-year-old got "The Hitman" with an inswinging beauty and sent him back to the pavilion.
Not long after removing Sharma, Afridi removed Kohli too, as the batter got an inside edge and the ball hit the wickets after touching Kohli's body.
Haris Rauf also removed two Indian batters, sending Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill back to the pavilion as he continued to bowl at more than 145kph.
When this story was filed, India were playing at 89-4 in 17 overs.
It must be noted that India have the upper hand against Pakistan with seven wins in 13 Asia Cup (ODI) matches. Meanwhile, Pakistan have won five with one match ending in no result.
Pakistan have also lost four of the last five matches against India in the Asia Cup, with their last win coming in Mirpur in 2014. It was the same match where Shahid Afridi hit two consecutive sixes against Ravichandran Ashwin in the last over to get Pakistan over the line.
Lineups
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan (wk), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf.
