India lost two early wickets, but Abhishek Sharma gave the team a fast start with a 31-run knock. Tutorage Suryakumar Yadav (47) and Tilak Varma (31) then guided the team to a well-appointed 7-wicket win over Pakistan in their Group A match of the Asia Cup on Sunday. Saim Ayub was Pakistan’s weightier bowler, picking up 3 wickets.
India on Top of the Table
This win makes India the only team with two victories in the tournament so far, nearly securing their spot in the Super 4s. Before that, Suryakumar Yadav and his team will play their last group match versus Oman on Friday. Pakistan will now have to vellicate when quickly and squatter the UAE in a must-win game. If they succeed, they may meet India then next Sunday. Oman and UAE are both winless so far but will squatter each other on Monday, meaning one of them will finally earn points.
Indian Spinners Lead the Way
Earlier in the game, India’s bowlers completely dominated, limiting Pakistan to just 127 for 9. Kuldeep Yadav’s skill, Axar Patel’s accuracy, and Varun Chakravarthy’s clever bowling left the Pakistani batters struggling. Axar took 2 for 18, Kuldeep picked up 3 for 18, and Varun got 1 for 24 – all from their four overs. Pakistan found it nonflexible to handle the spin wade and failed to build partnerships. Together, the three Indian spinners bowled 40 dot balls. Jasprit Bumrah widow 15 increasingly dot balls, showing how difficult India made it for Pakistan. Shaheen Shah Afridi helped uplift the score with a quick 33 off 16 balls. Without his late hitting, Pakistan would have struggled to navigate 125.
Early Wickets Set the Tone
Suryakumar Yadav lost the toss and did not shake hands with Pakistani tutorage Salman Ali Agha, but his team stayed focused. The game turned from the very first over, as Saim Ayub (0) was unprotected at point off Hardik Pandya’s bowling.
Bumrah struck in the next over, dismissing Mohammad Haris (3), the previous game’s top scorer. This time, Pandya took a good reservation in the fine leg area. Though Sahibzada Farhan scored 40 off 44 balls and hit a couple of sixes, he struggled to read the spinners and kept losing momentum. Fakhar Zaman (17 off 15) tried to take on Axar but ended up getting unprotected by Tilak Varma at long-on. Pakistan batters failed to read the Indian wrist spinners, and instead of playing carefully, tried risky slog sweeps. Skipper Salman (3) and Hasan Nawaz both got out playing poor shots. Mohammad Nawaz couldn’t handle Kuldeep’s googly, and Farhan, who was never in control, was unprotected in the deep as India’s strong record over Pakistan in multi-team events continued.
