The Indian men’s cricket team secured a hard-fought victory in their first match against Japan. It was expected that the Indian batsmen would rain runs in this match, but that didn’t happen. Rain dampened the field, forcing the match to be played for five overs per innings. Japan put up a strong fight, resulting in a victory by just two runs.

Not a single ‘six’ in this clash

Due to rain, the wicket was very slow, making batting difficult. Indian captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and decided to bat first. The match was delayed by several hours due to rain. Consequently, the number of overs in both innings was reduced to five each. India suffered a major setback in the very first over. Abhishek Sharma was dismissed off the very first ball without opening his account.

Sanju Samson also departed the very next day, scoring 9 runs off 7 balls. Ishan Kishan, who came in at number three, was also dismissed after scoring 3 runs off 6 balls. Shreyas Iyer scored 16 runs off 12 balls, taking the team’s score to 32 for 4 in 5 overs. Hara-Hinze shone with the ball for the Japanese and claimed two wickets.

The target of 33 runs was not difficult for Japan, but facing the Indian bowling was a big challenge for them. Lachlan was run out after scoring 1 run in 4 balls. Ibrahim was out after scoring 4 runs in 3 balls. After this, Kendel Fleming and Benjamin Davis took charge of the innings and it seemed that Japan would win the match. However, Sundar had him caught by Yash Thakur. He could score only 12 runs in 12 balls.

Brief Score: India 32 for 4 (Iyer 16, Hara-Hinze 2-17) beat Japan 30 for 3 (Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming 12, Washington 2-13) by two runs

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