Japan gives royal scare to India in a T20 game to mark 75 years of friendship between the countries
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SANO, Japan (AP) — Japan nearly pulled off one of the major upsets in international T20 cricket as it celebrated 75 years of friendship with reigning world champion India on Tuesday.
The match was hosted as part of an agreement reached during a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to mark the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relationship.
It was delayed nearly three hours, first by the late arrival of match officials and the Indian team due to traffic and then by a wet outfield. The match was then reduced to five overs per side as Japan gave the three-time world champions a royal scare before falling two runs short.
“The attitude and approach the Japanese team showed today was impeccable and kudos to them,” said Indian captain Shreyas Iyer.
“Their approach was outstanding. So I’m sure that they are on the right track right now and they’ve got a couple more matches against Afghanistan and Nepal (at the Asian Games), they would be brilliant.”
India opted to bat and finished 32-4 in its five overs, with Iyer scoring 16 off 12 balls. Japan’s Charlie Hara-Hinze, a 17-year-old left-arm spinner, etched his name in the history books by getting Abhishek Sharma out for a duck and also dismissing Iyer.
Axar Patel and Washington Sundar then held their own to defend India’s low score. Skipper Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming scored 12 runs before getting dismissed in the fourth over as Japan finished 30-3.
In a tense last over with Japan needing eight for victory, umpires overturned one of the two wide-ball decisions as left-handed batter Alexander Shirai-Patmore kept on trying to switch hit against Patel’s down the leg-side deliveries.
When umpire Chris Thurgate of Japan signaled a second wide ball that brought down the target to five runs off four balls, Indian players protested. Square leg umpire Chris Brown of New Zealand intervened and convinced Thurgate to overturn his wide-ball decision.
Despite the defeat, it was a heroic effort from the 41st-ranked Japanese team against the biggest team in world cricket.
“I’ve been saying to a few other guys that when (the game) gets that close, (the loss is) actually a little bit tougher to take and the emotions are running pretty high in our group,” Kadowaki-Fleming said.
“But the fact that we were able to run the best team in the world, in my opinion, to the last ball of a game is pretty special.”
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See AP’s full cricket coverage here