Asia Cup 2022: With the Asian Continent’s biggest cricketing tournament upcoming this month. The Asia Cup is scheduled to be held in the UAE. This year Asia Cup will be held in the T20 format with 6 teams participating in it. Teams participating in this year’s Asia Cup are India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. The sixth country will be decided by a mini-qualifying tournament between Singapore, UAE, Hong Kong, and Kuwait.
With the Asia Cup on the cards one of the biggest rivalries in cricket between India and Pakistan. When India and Pakistan clash against each other there are always thrilling matches for the audience to watch. Indian batsmen often bring out their A game against their arch rivalry. Let’s see the 5 best knocks played by Indian batsmen against Pakistan till now in this competition.
5 Best Knock by Indian Batsman vs Pakistan in Asia Cup
1. Virat Kohli 183 in 2012
Whenever we speak about Indian batsmen knocks against Pakistan one innings that stand out is Kohli’s 183. This knock by Virat has its own place in records as it came under very tough conditions and against India’s arch-rival Pakistan.
Pakistan had batted first and put on a mammoth total of 330 on board. Indian chase started horribly wrong as they lost opener Gambhir on duck in the first over itself. Virat Kohli had to walk out to bat very early into the innings. Virat along with the God of Cricket (Sachin Tendulkar) stitched out a 133-run partnership. Then later Sachin was dismissed for 52 and Kohli joined hands with Rohit Sharma.
An outstanding partnership between these two of 172 runs ensured India won the game comfortably. Virat Kohli went on to get his highest ODI score of all time of 183. In that knock of 183 Kohli looked fluent and was hitting the ball in all directions. Eventually, thanks to Kohli managed to get the famous 6 wickets against Pakistan in the 2012 Asia Cup.
2. Virendra Sehwag 119 in 2008
Virendra Sehwag is known for his explosive batting and one such knock came in Asia Cup back in 2008. Pakistan after choosing to bat first had put out a tricky total of 299 onboard thanks to Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan. India came out chasing and lost Gautam Gambhir early. Sehwag was then joined by Suresh Raina and together they had 198 run stands. Sehwag repeatedly smacked all the Pakistan bowlers. By the time Sehwag was dismissed on 119 from 95 balls, the match was in India’s pocket. India won the match by 6 wickets.
3. Shikhar Dhawan 114 and Rohit Sharma 111* in 2018
In the last Asia Cup which took place in 2018, Rohit Sharma was team captain for the first time. Virat Kohli had taken a break from cricket and thus Sharma was named captain. This was India’s second match against Pakistan in 4 days.
The Indian bowlers bowled brilliantly and restricted Pakistan to a score of 237/7. Yuzendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav were bowlers for India. The Spin twin picked 5 wickets between themselves.
India’s openers had a mammoth opening stand where they just made light work of Pakistan’s bowling. Along with that, both Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma managed to score their respective hundred and India chased down the score in 35th over registering a famous 9 victory against Pakistan.
4. Gautam Gambhir 83 in 2010
Asia Cup was being held in Sri Lanka during that time. India and Pakistan faced off against each other in the 4th match of the tournament. Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first. And, owing to the Fifties from Salaman(74) and Butt and Kamran Akmal (51) Pakistan managed to put up a total of 267.
Unfortunately, India while chasing a moderate total of 268 lost 2 big wickets in quick succession. Sehwag and Kohli were dismissed cheaply. However, Gautam Gambhir alongside then-skipper MS Dhoni batted exceptionally well to take India to victory. Gautam Gambhir fell short of his well-deserved hundred. And by the time GG was gone, India was on the verge of victory and eventually won the match.
5. Mohinder Amarnath 74* in 1988
And, for this last knock, we decided to roll back in dice a bit. It was just the 3rd edition of the Asia Cup and the first one in Bangladesh of many to follow. India was under the leadership of Dilip Vengsarkar.
Read More: IND VS PAK: 3 Current Pakistani Bowlers With Most Wickets Against India
In the cloudy and bowling-friendly conditions, India won the toss and opted to field first. Indian bowlers rattled Pakistan from the start. Arshad Ayub was the pick of the bowlers for India. He picked up 5 fifers and helped India to bundle out Pakistan to 142. With the pitch still assisting bowlers and against that might Pakistan attack 143 also looked like 250 plus. India lost Navjot Singh Sindu early. Walked Mohinder Amarnath and first along with Srikant he steady Indian innings.
The match turned in Pakistan’s favor when they dismissed well-set Srikant and captain Dilip Vengsarkar in back-to-back balls. Amarnath continued his gritty innings along with the middle and lower middle order. Finally, Mohinder Amarnath 74 not out helped India to win a famous victory by 4 wickets.
