All-around India A defeat Pakistan A by 7 runs in ACC T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup
Al Amerat (Oman), Oct 19: India A excelled in all three departments, clinching a thrilling seven-run victory over Pakistan to kick off their ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup campaign on an exhilarating note here on Saturday.
India's top order fired in unison as it posted 183 for 8 with Tilak Verma top-scoring with a 35-ball 44 after opting to bat.
Pacers Anshul Kamboj (3/33) and Rasikh Salam (2/30) and spinner Nishant Sindhu (2/15) shared eight wickets amongst themselves to restrict Pakistan to 176/7.
Not only did India shine with the bat and ball, they also delivered an impressive performance in the field, particularly through Ramandeep Singh, who made a stunning catch and saved vital runs in the closing moments.
Openers Abhishek Sharma (35 off 22) and Prabhsimran Singh (36 off 19) unleashed an aggressive assault on the pace attack, sending the ball flying across the field.
Abhishek slapped consecutive boundaries in the first over, while Prabhsimran followed suit by dispatching Zaman Khan for a four and a six in the next over, setting a vibrant tone.
Together, they struck eight boundaries and five sixes, propelling India A to an impressive 68 without loss during the Powerplay.
However, the introduction of spin after the Powerplay slowed their momentum, leading to the loss of both Abhishek and Prabhsimran in quick succession. This brought skipper Verma (44) and Nehal Wadhera (25) to the crease.
As the pitch became increasingly sluggish, Verma took on the anchor role, while Wadhera and Ramandeep (17) found the boundaries.
After losing two wickets to the pace of all-rounder Anshul Kamboj early in the chase, Yasir Khan (33) and Qasim Akram (27) began to attack fiercely.
However, a spectacular catch by Ramandeep at deep midwicket broke their partnership, dismissing Yasir. In the same over, left-arm spinner Nishant made his mark by removing Akram.
Arafat Minhas top-scored for Pakistan with 29-ball 41 but it was Abdul Samad who blazed away to 25 off 15 balls. Samad walked in when Pakistan needed 58 more to win but the 26-year-old hit a six and two back-to-back boundaries off Vaibhav Arora in the 16th over to bring down the equation to 42 off 24 balls.
Samad continued to chip in with Pakistan needing 17 off the last over but the big-hitter was sent marching off the first ball by Anshul with India completing a memorable win.
Brief Scores:
India A 183 for 8 in 20 overs (Tilak Verma 44, Prabhsimran Singh 36; Sufiyan Muqeem 2/28).
Pakistan A 176 for 7 in 20 overs (Arafat Minhas 41, Yasir Khan 33; Anshul Kamboj 3/33).
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Maharashtra Congress chief Patole meets Kharge, dismisses resignation talk as 'rumours'
New Delhi, Nov 25: Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on Monday dismissed as "rumours" talk of his resignation following the assembly polls debacle and stressed on "collective accountability" for the defeat.
Patole made the remarks after meeting Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge during which he conveyed that the result had not reflected the sentiments of the people of Maharashtra.
"Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other national and state leaders were leading Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) from the forefront during the assembly polls. So, we were sure that the trends were in favour of Maha Vikas Aghadi, even the citizens believed that," the Maharashtra Congress chief said.
"If I talk about Nanded, the Lok Sabha bypolls and assembly elections were held on the same day. In Lok Sabha bypolls, our candidate was winning in six assembly seats, whereas, in the assembly elections, we are not winning even a single seat," he said, adding that there cannot be such a "huge difference".
This is the sentiment among the people also and they have stated that this government in Maharashtra was not being formed on their votes, he claimed.
"So, I spoke to Mallikarjun Kharge on this," he added.
Asked whether he had offered to resign or the party had asked for his resignation after the Maharashtra assembly polls defeat, Patole said, "These are all rumours and there is no truth in them. There is collective accountability."
Patole also said he will meet Rahul Gandhi in a day or two and discuss all issues.
"Democracy is being finished. We have discussed that... there was no talk of resignation," he said.
The MVA alliance, comprising the Congress, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) and Shiv Sena (UBT), was restrained to 46 seats by the Mahayuti that reaped a rich harvest of 230 seats in the 288-member House.
