On Sunday, Pakistan defeated India by five wickets in a T20 Asia Cup “Super 4” match after Mohammad Rizwan scored an attacking 71. Chasing 182 to win, Pakistan accomplished the feat with one ball remaining thanks to a crucial 73-run partnership between Rizwan and Mohammad Nawaz, who scored 42.
After reaching his second consecutive fifty, Rizwan was out in the 17th over, but Pakistan was still victorious thanks to Khushdil Shah and Asif Ali in the final over. Asif was given a reprieve as Arshdeep Singh missed a clear cut chance at short third, and after hitting a six and two fours, he fell with two balls remaining, allowing Iftikhar Ahmed to score the final two runs.
India and Pakistan might still clash at the summit on September 11 in Dubai. It will be their third encounter because they previously faced off last Sunday (August 28), with India defeating Pakistan by a margin of five wickets.
India and Pakistan are grouped with Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in the ‘Super 4’ round-robin format, where a top-two finish would set up yet another Sunday clash which will be the Asia Cup finals. Pakistan and Sri Lanka each won one game, hence India needs to defeat Sri Lanka on September 6 and Afghanistan in the remaining two games (September 8). If India wins their next two games, Afghanistan will also be eliminated from the competition.
Sri Lanka will be eliminated from the campaign if India wins their final two games and Pakistan defeats the island nation. However, the Net Run Rate (NRR) enters the picture if Sri Lanka wins their next two games. India must win the following two games by significant margins to advance to the championship game. Currently, Sri Lanka (+0.589) and Pakistan (+0.126) are ahead of them in the points table with two points each, and they have an NRR of -0.126.
