The Asia Cup Super Fours clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan had all the ingredients of a classic – dropped catches, sloppy fielding, tempers flaring, mindless run outs, controversial dismissals. But in the end, India outplayed Pakistan in every department of the game to notch up a six-wicket victory at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai on Sunday.
India chased down the 172-run target with 7 balls to spare all thanks to the blazing start provided by their gun openers Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill.
Abhishek Sharma led the India run chase and in trademark fashion, smashed Pakistan pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi for a six on the very first ball of the innings. He raced to a 24-ball 50 with the help of 4 sixes and 4 fours – his knock becoming the second-fastest half-century in India-Pakistan T20Is.
The Indian opening pair sent the Pakistan bowlers on a leather hunt by notching up a 50-run stand in just 4.4 overs and brought up a rampaging 100-run stand off just 52 balls. The 100+ stand between Abhishek and Gill is the first for any wicket in Asia Cup 2025 for any team. But after 9.5 overs and 105 runs on the board, Gill had cramps and the physio came out for treatment and a drinks break was also taken.
That perhaps broke the rhythm of Gill who was clean bowled through the gate by a cross-seam in-cutter by Faheem Ashraf on the very next delivery. Gill’s 28-ball 47 consisted of 8 fours.
Haris Rauf then took the prized wicket of Suryakumar Yadav for a duck when the Indian captain went for his trademark flick shot over the fine leg fence, instead got a leading edge and the ball flying to the third man fence where Abrar Ahmed took the catch.
Haris Rauf continued his excellent track record against SKY, dismissing him for the third time in three T20Is innings – the most anyone has dismissed the Indian captain in T20Is.
Abhishek was going all guns blazing and looked set to lead India to an emphatic victory till disaster struck. After hitting a 91-metre six over wide long-on against Abrar Ahmed, Abhishek was caught in two minds and mistimed a wide delivery outside off-stump that caught the toe-end of the bat as the edge went flying to long-on where Rauf took the catch running in.
The Indian opener’s 74-run knock that came off 39 balls was studded with 6 fours and 5 sixes.
Sanju Samson (13) added 25 runs for the fourth wicket with Tilak Varma before he went for a cross-bat shot against Rauf, missed and was clean bowled.
Tilak Varma (30*) and Hardik Pandya (7*) led India to victory with Tilak finishing off the match with a 92-metre six against Shaheen Afridi over long-off and then a flick to the backward square-leg fence for a boundary.
Earlier, a sloppy fielding performance by India that saw them drop as many as four catches, allowed Pakistan to 171/5 in their 20 overs after being asked to bat first by Suryakumar Yadav, who sticked to ‘no-handshake’ stance at the toss.
Pakistan changed their opening combination as Fakhar Zaman walked in with Sahibzada Farhan, instead of Saim Ayub, who has more wickets than runs in this tournament with three ducks in a row.
The first drop by India came as early as on the third ball of the Pakistan innings when Abhishek Sharma dropped Sahibzada Farhan at third man.
India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah conceded 11 runs in his first over as Fakhar Zaman smashed him for 2 successive fours, but controversy struck in the next over when Hardik Pandya had Zaman caught behind by Sanju Samson (15). The call went to the third umpire as Zaman stood his ground. It was a tight call but replay suggested that Samson had got his fingers underneath the ball right on time.
Sahibzada Farhan made most of the dropped catch and went on to top score for Pakistan with a 45-ball 58 that came with the help of 3 sixes and 5 fours.
Shivam Dube was the most economical Indian bowler conceding 33 runs off his 4 overs while taking 2 wickets.
With India conceding 42 in the final three overs, Pakistan regained some of the ground they lost.
Sahibzada Farhan was on fire and led the attack against Bumrah, who conceded 34 off his first three overs as they hammered 91 off the first ten overs.
For the second wicket, Farhan and Saim Ayub shared a partnership of 72. However, when Dube came on to bowl, the Pakistan innings lost momentum.
After the halfway point, Dube and Varun Chakaravarthy did a fantastic job of bringing things back, as Pakistan scored more than six overs without hitting a boundary during that stretch.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!