Dubai: Asia Cup — India defeated Pakistan by 7 wickets.
At the Dubai Cricket Stadium, the toss went in Pakistan’s favor and captain Salman Ali Agha chose to bat first. However, the match result went against the national team.
Pakistan’s performance was disappointing both in batting and bowling, as the Indian batsmen completely dominated. Chasing Pakistan’s target of 128 runs, India scored 131 for 3 in just 15.5 overs.
Suryakumar Yadav top-scored with 47 runs, while Abhishek Sharma made 31. For Pakistan, only Saim Ayub impressed, taking all three wickets.
Once again, Pakistan’s openers and middle-order failed, but Sahibzada Farhan’s 40 and Shaheen Afridi’s quickfire 33 helped the total reach 127.
Apart from them, five key Pakistani players couldn’t even reach double figures. Fakhar Zaman scored 17, Faheem Ashraf 11, and Sufiyan Muqeem 10.
For India, Kuldeep Yadav was outstanding, taking 3 wickets for just 18 runs in his 4 overs. Axar Patel and Jasprit Bumrah picked up 2 wickets each, while Hardik Pandya and Varun Chakravarthy claimed one apiece.
India’s innings began with Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill, who attacked Shaheen Afridi in the very first over, hitting a six and a four to collect 12 runs.
Saim Ayub dismissed both openers as well as middle-order batsman Tilak Varma at a total of 31, leaving India at 97/3.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav’s brilliant 47-run knock played a crucial role in India’s victory, while Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma contributed 31 runs each.
For Pakistan, the innings started with Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan. Saim fell for a duck at a team score of 3, caught off Hardik Pandya. In the very next over, Pandya struck again to dismiss Mohammad Nawaz, leaving Pakistan 7/2 after 2 overs.
In the third over, Fakhar Zaman hit Pandya for two fours, pushing the score to 20. In the next over, Sahibzada Farhan struck Bumrah for a six, taking the total to 26/2.
By the 5th over, Fakhar added another boundary against Varun Chakravarthy, taking the score to 34. In the 6th over, Farhan hit a six and a double, lifting the score to 42. A review against him was overturned by the third umpire.
The 7th over, bowled by Kuldeep Yadav, was played cautiously with just 2 runs scored. In the 8th over, Fakhar Zaman (17) mistimed a shot and was caught, leaving Pakistan at 45/3.
In the 9th over, captain Salman Ali Agha was given out LBW, but a review saved him. The team reached 47/3 at the end of the over.
By the 10th over, Pakistan was 49/3. In the 11th over, Axar Patel dismissed captain Salman for just 3 runs, taking the score to 54/4. At the end of the 12th over, Pakistan stood at 62/4.
In the 13th over, Hasan Nawaz fell for 5, followed soon by Mohammad Nawaz for a duck, leaving Pakistan reeling at 64/6.
By the 16th over, Pakistan managed 83/6. On the very next ball, Sahibzada Farhan was dismissed after a fighting 40.
At the end of the 17th over, the team stood at 90/7. In the 18th over, Faheem Ashraf was trapped LBW, leaving the score at 98/8. By the end of the over, Pakistan had 99 runs.
In the 19th over, Sufiyan Muqeem was bowled by Bumrah, leaving Pakistan 111/9.
In the final over, Shaheen Afridi smashed two consecutive sixes, taking Pakistan to 127. He remained unbeaten on 33 off 16 balls, hitting 4 sixes in his explosive knock.
Comments are closed.