02 September,2023 08:53 PM IST | Pallekele | mid-day online correspondent
Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (Pic: AFP)
Hardik Pandya and Ishan Kishan combined in a 138-run fifth wicket stand off 141 balls to help India overcome a top-order wobble and reach 266 against Pakistan in their Asia Cup match on Saturday. In doing so, the pair registered the highest partnership for fifth-wicket or below for India against Pakistan.
Kishan (82 off 81 balls) and Pandya (87 off 90 balls) kept Pakistan bowlers at bay to give the Men in Blue a fine chance to make a winning start to the tournament. They joined forces after Pakistan pacers Afridi, who accounted for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli early, and Haris Rauf combined to reduce India to 66 for 4 in 14.1 overs.
In a sense, it was a rather unfamiliar job for both Pandya and Kishan, who generally love to give a wallop to the bowlers. But the conditions at Pallekele, which always had a lick of drizzle, and a high-octane bowling attack meant that the Indian pair would have to curb their shot-making instincts. They had to be precise in the selection of each shot, and needed to be extra patient.
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Before this, the highest partnership by an Indian pair for a fifth wicket or below against Pakistan was between Rahul Dravid and Mohammed Kaif, who stitched a 135-run partnership in 2005 at Nagpur.
The highest partnership between a pair for the fifth wicket or below between these teams is still a 142-run stand between Imran Khan and Javed Miandad at Nagpur in 1987.
Also, this stand between Kishan and Pandya is the third-highest stand for fifth wicket or below in ODI Asia Cups. The highest is a 214-run stand between Pakistan's Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed, made recently against Nepal in this ongoing tournament. Before this, a 164-run stand between Afghanistan's Asghar Afghan and Samiullah Shinwari against Bangladesh in 2014 was the highest for a fifth-wicket or below in Asia Cup ODIs.
India suffered some early blows as they lost the wickets of skipper Rohit Sharma (11), Virat Kohli (4) to Shaheen Afridi and Shreyas Iyer (14) and Shubman Gill (10) to Haris Rauf.
(With agency inputs)
