The Indian team has narrowly escaped defeat at the hands of Japan. In the rain-affected 5-5 over match, Team India had given a target of only 33 runs to Japan, chasing which the host team scored 25 runs in 4 overs. He had to score 9 runs in the last over to win. It seemed that the team captained by Shreyas Iyer would be embarrassed but Akshar Patel saved the shame. Akshar spent only 5 runs in the last over and gave the team a thrilling victory by 2 runs.

This was the first time when the teams of India and Japan were face to face in men's international cricket. This only T20 match was organized under the 'Sport 75' initiative to strengthen sports relations between the two countries, which was very exciting.

India's batting flop

The match started with a delay of several hours due to rain. The pitch had also become very slow, due to which it was not easy to play shots. Still, a team like India, which won the toss and came to bat first, could score only 32 runs after losing 4 wickets in 5 overs. Star opener Abhishek Sharma could not even open his account. He was led by Charlie Hara-Hinze. Sanju Samson scored 9 runs in 7 balls.

Ishan Kishan scored 3 runs in 6 balls, while captain Shreyas Iyer scored the maximum 16 runs. He faced 12 balls. Tilak Verma scored 1 unbeaten run in 3 balls. Whereas Shivam Dubey returned unbeaten without scoring any runs after playing 1 ball. India hit only 2 fours, which came from the bats of Sanju and Shreyas. Hara-Hinze took 2 wickets for Japan. Ibrahim Takahashi and Benjamin Ito-Davis took 1 wicket each.

Japan had stopped breathing

Chasing a small target, Japan scored 8 runs after losing 2 wickets in the first 2 overs. After this, he scored 10 runs against Ravi Bishnoi in the third over, which left the Indian fans breathless for some time. Washington Sundar and Akshar again bowled tight overs and prevented Japan from pulling off an upset. Akshar spent only 7 runs in 2 overs, while Washington took 2 wickets for 13 runs in 2 overs.