India-Pakistan Super 4 match in the ongoing Asia Cup on Sunday lived up to its hype as both sides played out a thriller and in the end, it was Babar Azam's side that prevailed by five wickets and now India must win their matches against Sri Lanka and Afghanistan if they want to make it to the final. However, the biggest talking point of the game came in the 18th over of the innings as young seamer Arshdeep Singh dropped a relatively easy chance off the bowling of Ravi Bishnoi, and as a result, Asif Ali got a life.
Arshdeep then came on to bowl the final over, but he was not able to defend seven runs, and in the end, Pakistan walked away with a victory. Now, former India spinner has come to the rescue of Arshdeep, saying no one drops catches purposely and the young seamer should not be criticised.
"Stop criticising young @arshdeepsinghh. No one drop the catch purposely..we are proud of our 🇮🇳 boys .. Pakistan played better.. shame on such people who r putting our own guys down by saying cheap things on this platform bout arsh and team.. Arsh is GOLD," Harbhajan tweeted.
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan also took to Twitter to show his support for Arshdeep.
Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez also came in support of the bowler and he took to Twitter to show his support.
Fans have also come out in support of Arshdeeep. Here are some of the reactions
Speaking at the post-match press conference, India batter Virat Kohli also showed his support for Arshdeep, saying: "Anyone can commit the mistake, the situation was tight. It was a high-pressure game and mistakes can happen. I still remember I was playing my first Champions Trophy and the match was against Pakistan, I had played a very bad shot against Shahid Afridi. I was watching the ceiling till 5 am, I was not able to sleep and I thought my career is over but these things are natural. Seniors players get around you, there is a good team environment right now, I give the credit to the captain and coach. The players learn from their mistakes. So one must accept his mistake, address it and look forward to being in that pressure situation once again."
Talking about the match between India and Pakistan, the former was sent into bat and the side posted 181/7 in 20 overs. Virat Kohli top-scored with a knock of 60 off 44 balls.
Chasing 182, wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan top-scored for Pakistan as he played a knock of 71 of 51 balls. However, the impact innings came from Mohammad Nawaz who went out to bat at No.4 and the left-hander went on to score 42 runs off 20 balls.
For India, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal and Arshdeep Singh scalped one wicket each.