India defeated their bitter rivals by seven wickets in their Asia Cup Group A match in Dubai on Sunday, confirming their dominance over Pakistan.
Chasing 128, Abhishek Sharma gave India the usual explosive start as he advanced down the crease and crushed Shaheen Afridi’s opening delivery of the innings straight down the ground for a four.
Abhishek, not satisfied with his earlier shot, launched the very next delivery over wide long-off for his first six, as the Pakistani pace spearhead gave away 12 runs in his opening over.
In the following over, India Test captain Shubman Gill hit two straight fours off Saim Ayub despite seeing his childhood friend go for it from the outset. However, the Pakistani spinner got back at Gill (10) by deceiving him with a carrom ball, and Mohammad Haris stumped him.
However, Abhishek was unstoppable at the other end, greeting Afridi with a boundary that cracked to the deep backward point fence in the following over.
Then Abhishek played the shot of the match, flicking a straight slower ball from Afridi into the crowd over the over mid-wicket fence.
In the following over, Abhishek blasted two more fours off Saim Ayub before falling after mistiming a long-off hit that Faheem Ashraf caught easily. Abhishek scored 31 runs from 13 balls, including two sixes and four fours.
However, India captain Suryakumar Yadav and his Mumbai teammate Tilak Varma kept their foot on the pedal, bringing up a 50-run partnership off 43 balls.
Saim Ayub deceived the Indian left-hander with a quick off-break on the middle stump that pitched, then swiftly spun to hit the off-stump to reduce India to 97/3 in 12.2 overs after Tilak Varma hit a six and two fours in his run-a-ball 31.
When Shivam Dube finally got going, he hit the biggest six of the tournament yet, a 90-meter one, off Saim Ayub over long-on.
However, Suryakumar Yadav, the captain and birthday boy, took the lead and guided his team to win by scoring an undefeated 47 off 37 balls with four fours and a six to end the game.
Similar to how SKY and Pakistan skipper Salman Agha ignored the traditional greeting after the toss, SKY and Dube (10*) left the field without shaking hands with the Pakistanis.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, Pakistan’s pace spearhead, earlier given his team something to bowl to by hitting an undefeated 33 off just 16 balls to put Pakistan at 127/9.
Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat first to begin the highly anticipated match. Sahibzada Farhan, the opener for Pakistan, smashed three sixes and a four in his 44-ball 40 to top score for his team.
But Kuldeep Yadav’s 3/18 and the other Indian bowlers made sure that Pakistan’s innings never got going. Hardik Pandya and Varun Chakaravarthy each contributed one wicket, while Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel both claimed two.
Pakistan faced 63 dot balls in their innings and seemed on the verge of being bundled out for under 100, until Afridi stepped up with a late flurry.
In the seventeenth over, Afridi smashed his first six off Kuldeep with a brilliant slog-sweep that cleared the mid-wicket boundary. In the following over, Afridi afforded himself some space and hammered a delivery over wide long-off, off Chakaravarthy.
Pakistan entered the final over at 111/9, with Pandya tasked to close it out. Afridi played the first delivery for a dot, but then blasted the next two balls over long-on for back-to-back sixes, sending them into the crowd as Pakistan finished their innings at 127/9.
