Dubai, September 14: India dominated Pakistan in all three departments as they posted a thumping seven-wicket victory in the 2025 Asia Cup game played in Dubai. With this win, India secured their place in the Super Four.
With a mixture of googlies, tossed-up deliveries, quicker ones and the stock ball, Kuldeep Yadav was India’s man of the moment. He finished with a redoubtable figure of 3 for 18 from four overs. Axar Patel and Jasprit Bumrah chipped in with two wickets each, while Hardik Pandya and Varun Chakravarthy took one apiece. Pakistan mustered just 127 in their allotted 20 overs.
Right from the time Hardik Pandya removed Saim Ayub off the first legitimate ball of the game, Pakistan couldn’t force the pace. Mohammad Haris, who replaced Ayub, soon holed out to the fielder stationed behind square on the on-side off Bumrah. For a while, Fakhar Zaman and Sahibzada Farhan tried to resurrect the innings with a stand of 39 for the third wicket.
Farhan even smashed Bumrah over long-on for a six, while Fakhar pulled Hardik for a boundary. Fakhar also reversed an LBW decision via the help of the DRS. However, India once again struck at the right time with Axar removing Fakhar. The left-arm spinner’s ability to slow his pace down also played a part in the southpaw’s dismissal.
Salman Agha, the Pakistan skipper, also couldn’t find his mojo on a surface that assisted the spinners to some extent. Eventually, after playing out a string of dots, he slog-swept one to the fielder stationed at deep square-leg off Axar. Although Farhan continued to hold one end up, he didn’t get the required support from the rest of the batters.
In the 17th over, he too was sent back to the hut by Kuldeep. The wrist spinner showed his class by anticipating that the batter would go for the big shot and bowled the googly full and wide. All that Farhan could do was spoon a catch to the fielder positioned at long-on.
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Lower down the order, Shaheen Afridi (33 not out) landed the big blows with three sixes off Varun and Hardik. Those sixes at least took Pakistan to a score of some respectability.
Unfortunately for Pakistan, it was never going to be enough on a surface that seemed to get a tad better as the game progressed. Abhishek Sharma (31 runs) snuffed out Pakistan’s slim hopes of making a match of it by tonking Shaheen for a six and a four in the first over. In the pace bowler’s very next over, he nonchalantly flicked one over mid-wicket for a six. The highlight of his innings was perhaps how he manufactured just enough room to club Ayub down the ground.
Even though he was dismissed in the same over, Abhishek had more or less put India on course for a comfortable win. Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma then combined lofts, slog sweeps and reverse sweeps to help India get within touching distance of the target. At the fag end of the game, Ayub took his third scalp, dislodging Tilak. Suryakumar, the birthday boy, finished with an undefeated 47, guiding India past the finishing line with a six.
On a side note, it didn’t turn out to be a full house at the Dubai International Stadium. A rare occurrence when it comes to an India-Pakistan game. The Indian players also didn’t shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts at the conclusion of the game. In the final analysis, that was probably the main takeaway from the lopsided encounter.
Brief scores: Pakistan 127 for 9 in 20 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 40; Kuldeep Yadav 3-18). India 131/3 in 15.5 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 47*, Abhishek Sharma 31; Saim Ayub 3-35).
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