The highly anticipated Asia Cup encounter between cricketing giants India and Pakistan ended in disappointment for both players and fans as persistent rain forced to stop the Group A match on Saturday. Pakistan started the game well by taking four wickets. However, Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya stabilized the Indian innings with a fine 138-run partnership, helping India to reach 266 runs. Men in Blue will take on Nepal in a must-win game today (September 4) in Pallekele.

The Indian top order suffered a crushing collapse in the first game against Pakistan, with the top three of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Shubman Gill departing without contributing significantly with the bat. Sunil Gavaskar, the legendary batter, commented on Indian batters that while Rohit and Virat got out to decent deliveries, Shubman didn’t look like himself in the game.

Both Rohit and Virat could’ve used their feet a bit better. Shreyas Iyer was a bit unlucky. That was a cracking hook shot but it went straight to the fielder. Gill, for some strange reason, looked very subdued. Didn’t look as if he was playing his natural game, seemed to be in some uncertainty around him, Gavaskar added.

I think what Ishan showed was that an opening batter can bat anywhere down the order. It’s not easy the other way around, where a middle-order batter can come in and open the batting. It’s not easy, but an opening batter can be accommodated anywhere down the order, and he brings a left-handed dimension to the Indian batting line, Gavaskar stated. Gavaskar concluded by praising Pandya for handling the pressure well and taking India out of a troublesome position.