Live Report: India vs Pakistan - Asia Cup 2022, Dubai

Great respect for these two teams to give us such an entertaining game of T20 in gruelling conditions that made for sluggish over-rates and cramps all around. Pakistan hung in till the end, but Hardik Pandya was too much for them.

We leave you with a teaser from the main report. Thanks for joining us.

"Hardik Pandya cracked open the game for India with both ball and bat to take them to a tense win over Pakistan with two balls to spare. Pandya bowled with pace and venom, using the short ball on a pitch with steep bounce perfectly to return figures of 4-0-25-3 and restrict Pakistan to 147. On a tacky pitch, India never really broke away from Pakistan until Pandya hit three boundaries in the 19th over. Even in the 20th, Mohammad Nawaz brought it to six required off three, but Pandya sealed it with a flat six over long-on to end up with 33 off 17."

Mohammad Nawaz gets off to a superb start, bowling Ravindra Jadeja first ball, then bringing it to six required off three, but Hardik Pandya sealed it with a flat six over long-on with two balls to go. A gruelling match but Pandya ends it coolly.

Three boundaries in the 19th over without taking risk. Two of them a direct consequence of having that extra fielder in the circle. Now it leaves Nawaz or whoever bowls just six to defend. India need seven to win.

Naseem Shai is cramping and limping, but he is completing the 18th over. And he is bowling it well. Five runs off the first four balls, and nearly an lbw. call, which Jadeja gets overturned. India need 27 off 14.

Just like India, Pakistan are three overs short, and will bowl the last three with five fielders inside the circle. Unlike Pakistan, India have lost only four wickets so they can utilise this penalty. And both of Pakistan's fast bowlers are struggling with cramps.

In overs 16 and 17, India have taken zero risks and have scored 19 runs. They are waiting for that Nawaz over to make up for any slowness. The asking rate is under control: 32 off the last three with Dinesh Karthik still available. This is what promoting Jadeja has done. Denied Pakistan the use of Nawaz.

This is the delicious dilemma of T20 captaincy. Invariably you have to delay one over from the lesser of the bowlers because if you bowl him at that time he can be taken apart. That over here is Mohammad Nawaz's. With Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja there, Pakistan delayed his return. Even with Hardik Pandya in, they haven't given Nawaz the 16th over.

One of the reasons is that Dinesh Karthik is not great against spin. So they want him batting before they bowl Nawaz. India need 51 from the last five.

Suryakumar Yadav sees a length ball, thinks he can slog it over midwicket, but it seams in a touch and flattens his off stump. India 89 for 4 in 14.2 overs. That is the first time since the start of the chase that India's win probability has fallen below 50%. With that wicket, it comes down from 52% to 42%. India still have Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik in the hut.

The wickets might have fallen to Mohammad Nawaz, but Shadab Khan has been superb. He never gave up the stumps no matter which way he tried to turn the ball. It has left the match poised for a tight finish: India need 65 from 42. One Nawaz over, and the rest to be bowled by the three quicks.

But wickets have fallen around him. First Rohit Sharma ends his miserable stay at the wicket holing out to long-off. That was in an over where one slog-sweep top edge fell in open space, and another went for a sweet six.

India then promoted Ravindra to No. 4, which I don't feel is a match-ups move. It is more to look how Jadeja does in the top order otherwise India will have to play Rishabh Pant. Why do I say it is not match-ups? Because this promotion leaves two batters in the middle who are not great against spin in T20s.

Speaking of two, Virat Kohli ends his innings with a tame chip to long-off. He skips down to Mohammad Nawaz, is not to its pitch, and still goes aerial and gives long-off catching practice. Nawaz is on hat-trick, which Suryakumar Yadav denies him. India 53 for 3 in 9.1 overs.

Virat Kohli had a life when on nought, he looked edgy in the first few deliveries, but right now he is looking in good touch. There was one punch off the back foot, but what topped it was the short-arm pull to a short-of-a-length ball that nearly carried for a six to wide long-on. India 38 for 1 in the powerplay, Kohli has scored 29 off those. Rohit Sharma still looking edgy.

Edges beaten, inside edges missing the wicket, one wicket, one drop, one pull smacked clean, pace, steep bounce, and India are 23 for 1 in four overs. Two big overs coming up, last two of the powerplay.

They have two slips for him, Virat Kohli has a drive at a wide delivery, and the edge flies to the right of Fakhar Zaman at second slip. Zaman gets a hand to it, but can't hold on. Not the most difficult of chances, but he has just not been able to time the dive. India 1 for 1 on 0.4 overs.

Naseem Shah has a wicket with his second ball in T20Is. This is a dismissal difficult to explain. KL Rahul is looking to defend a short-of-a-length ball with not a particularly angled bat. He ends up playing it on. India 1 for 1 in 0.2 overs, and Naseem has two slips for Virat Kohli.

Pakistan lost their ninth wicket on 128, but Shahnawaz Dahani surprised India with two meaty sixes to take them to 147. Haris Rauf, too, ended up with 13 off seven.

having said that, India will be pleased with that score. The quick bowlers were right on the money. They were expecting swing but they didn't get much of that. So they used the bounce in the pitch superbly, taking the first five wickets with bouncers. Hardik Pandya cracked the game open with three wickets in the 13th and the 15th over.

The game is still on, though. There was some turn, some uneven bounce and sharp bounce too.

India are bowling the last three overs with just four fielders outside the circle because of their slow over-rate. Pakistan must be kicking themselves for not having specialist batters in the middle to make full use of this penalty. According to his rule, if you haven't started your last over by the time the allotted time plus stoppages expire, you have to bowl your remaining overs with five fielders inside the circle.

And the one player they have capable of scoring quickly, Shadab Khan, has just fallen lbw to a knuckle ball from Bhuvneshwar. Pakistan 120 for 8 in 18.2 overs.

Now the wickets are falling to length balls to. Asif Ali feels he has to go whatever happens, and ends up skying a wide slower ball to long-off. Mohammad Nawaz then edges one widish delivery from Arshdeep Singh when looking to run it down to third. It's 114 for 7 in 17.1 overs.

That's the first half of the 15th over.

Mohammad Rizwan, going at a run a ball, tries to ramp Hardik Pandya, but he manages to only guide it to deep third. Khushdil Shah tries top upper-cut later in the over, but the line cramps him up, and he is caught at deep point. Pakistan 97 for 5.

Iftikhar Ahmed is a much better batter of pace, striking at 144 as opposed to just over a run a ball against spin. He found himself facing a lot of spin on a tacky pitch with his batting partner struggling too, but he found a way to get to 28 off 21.

Hardik Pandya, though, comes back with a sharp bouncer first ball. Iftikhar gets just the top edge on the hook to be caught by Dinesh Karthik. Pakistan 87 for 3 in 12.1 overs.

Ravindra Jadeja fires one in short of a length in the ninth over, but it turns from outside leg to beat the bat end just outside off. That might be a good sign for Pakistan if there is no dew later on. As of now they find themselves handcuffed on a pitch that has helped both the quicks and the spinners. Pakistan 63 for 2 in 9 overs. Rizwan is 26 off 28, Iftikhar 14 off 11.

Avesh Khan is under the pump as he is brought on for the first time in the sixth over. Pakisatan are looking to capitalise on the last over of the powerplay. Mohammad Rizwan picks his areas on the leg side and hits him for a six and a four.

The fifth ball is short, gets big on Fakhar Zaman, it looks like he is beaten on the cut. Dinesh Karthik is not even appealing. But Fakhar walks. He rules himself out. Pakistan 42 for 1 in 5.5 overs.

Not often you see Bhuvneshwar Kumar take a wicket with an on-pace bouncer with the new ball. Not on a pitch that is offering you seam movement. Not with fine leg up. But he surprises Babar Azam with one in the third over, and gets it high and outside off. Babar has to drag his hook from outside off and from high. All he manages is a top edge to short fine leg. Could have easily gone wrong with that field, but his line was good.

Bhuvneshwar follows it up with a bouncer first up to Fakhar Zaman, but this time the defelction off the glove sails over the keeper for four. Pakistan 19 for 1 in 3 overs.

It always looked iffy on height. Second ball of match: short-of-a-length ball that seams back in and beats Mohammad Rizwan's pull. Given out on the field, Rizwan reviews, and the ball tracker shows it is too high. Pakistan 0 for 0 in 0.2 overs.

Now that he is playing, it is confirmed that Virat Kohli is now only the second player after Ross Taylor to have played 100 internationals in all three formats.

He is also coming off from a break during which he realised how burnt out he was and how he was unintentionally faking the intensity, how it was not coming naturally to him. It is important to speak about mental health and not suffer silently. And when you are such a big global superstar who can afford to take a break, it is important that you tell others that it is okay to not feel like it at time, that it is okay to prioritise your mental health. That is well done by Kohli.

To celebrate his feat, here is a quiz on his T20I career and a write-up on his six best innings in T20Is.

Huge, seemingly never-ending cheer as India win the toss. The toss is crucial in Dubai, especially in the early parts of a tournament. Big advantage to the side bowling first, which is India tonight.

A clear message from them that finishing is a specialist role and Dinesh Karthik keeps his place as Rishabh Pant loses his place to the returning Virat Kohli. With the ball they have chosen Avesh Khan ahead of R Ashwin.

Babar Azam says Pakistan would have bowled first themselves had they won the toss. Pakistan's fast bowlers are Naseem Shah, Hasan Ali and Shahnawaz Dahani. Mohammad Hasnain and Hasan Ali sit out.

India 1 KL Rahul 2 Rohit Sharma (capt.) 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Avesh Khan, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Arshdeep Singh

Pakistan 1 Babar Azam (capt.), 2 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 3 Fakhar Zaman, 4 Asif Ali, 5 Iftikhar Ahmed, 6 Khushdil Shah, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Mohammad Nawaz, 9 Shahnawaz Dahani, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Naseem Shah

That's Shashank Kishore lamenting the lack of bilaterals between these two teams but also rejoicing that a lot of rancour and jingoism has been taken out of India-Pakistan contests. Read his atmospheric preview from the ground here

A more straightforward, formatted preview is here.

Making his comeback to a full-strength India squad is KL Rahul. Here he talks about he has amped up his preparation.

Danyal Rasool weighs in on Pakistan's top-heavy batting. He argues it is not necessarily because the middle order is not good, but because perhaps they are not trusted enough by the top order to be able to take risks early. Is their strength also their weakness?

In other news, Rahul Dravid, who missed the preparation for the tournament because of Covid-19, has tested negative and is at the venue to coach India for this tournament.