ASIA CUP, 2025
India’s spinners, led by Kuldeep Yadav again, starred in another dominant win © Getty
India’s spinners, led by Kuldeep Yadav again, starred in another dominant win as Pakistan were swatted away with ease in Dubai. India were ruthless again with the ball right from the word go and kept Pakistan to just 127/9 – a total they chased down easily with 25 balls to spare.
Where was the game won?
In the middle overs. While Pakistan struggled big time against India’s spin attack, scoring at just four runs an over in the phase, India put on a clinic. On a surface where there was turn on offer, India lost only one wicket in that phase while rotating the strike regularly. Pakistan on the other hand lost four wickets in the phase that ultimately led to their downfall.
Parameters Pakistan India Score 36/4 62/1 Run rate 4 6.89 4s/6s 2/1 5/2
PAKISTAN
Powerplay – India strike early
Phase score – 42/2 [RR: 7, 4s/6s: 3/2]
It took India just two balls to strike and 15 balls for Pakistan to find their first boundary. That’s how good India were to kick things off. Both Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah moved the new ball around as Saim Ayub chased an away going delivery to hit it straight to the point fielder to fall for a duck. In the next over, Mohammad Haris tried to take on Bumrah and mistimed one badly to get caught as Pakistan found themselves reeling at 6/2. It became 6/3 momentarily when a brillant yorker from Bumrah saw Fakhar Zaman get trapped lbw, only for the batter to successfully overturn the call. Fakhar then finally got Pakistan going with a couple of boundaries off Hardik before Sahibzada Farzan stunned Bumrah with a neat six over wide long-on. When Bumrah bowled a third straight over in the powerplay, the opener managed to clear the ropes once again as Pakistan found some hope after that poor start.
Middle overs – Spinners dominate
Phase score – 36/4 [RR: 4, 4s/6s: 2/1]
Finishing the powerplay on a decent note, Pakistan totally succumbed to India’s spin attack in the middle overs. Runs were hard to come by and that resulted in one wicket after another. Axar Patel kick-started the slide when Fakhar mistimed one shot and Salman Agha’s poor outing came to an end when he too miscued one shot in trying to break the shackles. With the Pakistan skipper gobbling up 12 deliveries for his 3, the team badly needed some momentum. But Kuldeep compounded their misery by getting rid of Hasan Nawaz and Mohammad Nawaz off successive deliveries to reduce Pakistan to 64/6.
Death overs – Shaheen drags Pakistan past 120
Phase score – 49/3 [RR: 10.8, 4s/6s: 2/4]
With their run rate barely going past five after 15 overs, Pakistan were in real danger of failing to touch three figures. Varun Chakaravarthy delivered a tidy over and added to the pressure before Kuldeep struck again in his final over as the well-set Farhan was now back in the pavilion. However, Shaheen Afridi’s entry point proved to be ideal as he slog swept Kuldeep for a six to show his mates how it’s done before smashing Varun for another big one. In the penultimate over, Sufiyan Muqeem came up with two crucial fours against Bumrah before Shaheen flexed his muscles again in the final over against Hardik as Pakistan managed to breach 120.
INDIA
Powerplay – India knock off almost half the target
Phase score – 61/2 [RR: 10.17, 4s/6s: 8/2]
Facing Shaheen for the first time in his international career, Abhishek Sharma came down the track first ball to send a statement and smashed him for a boundary. To thrill the crowd further, he whacked the next ball for a six as he kicked things off in familiar fashion. Shubman Gill took on Ayub in the next over for consecutive fours as India threatened to make light work of the target. Against the run of play though, Ayub bowled a carrom ball to deceive Gill and get him stumped. That didn’t deter Abhishek who continued to take on Shaheen for another six and a four before targeting Ayub now. But the spinner struck again with Abhishek mistiming one shot to get caught near the long-on boundary for a thrilling 13-ball 31. With Pakistan looking to slightly pull things back, Tilak Varma rounded off the powerplay with a couple of boundaries to re-establish dominance.
Middle overs – A job well done
Phase score – 62/1 [RR: 6.89, 4s/6s: 5/2]
Even though India were already ahead in the game by the time they entered this phase, they still had a thing or two to teach their opponents. With conditions not being straightforward, India kept rotating the strike and didn’t take chances against Abrar Ahmed. Suryakumar Yadav and Varma targeted Sufiyan Muqeem to take full control of the chase. Ayub’s excellent night with the ball continued as he broke through again, with a terrific delivery to castle Varma but Nawaz at the other end continued to leak runs. Suryakumar kept using the sweep to great effect to move into the 40s whereas Shivam Dube ended the phase with a massive six. They only needed 5 more runs at this point and finished off formalities in the very next over.
Brief scores: Pakistan 127/9 in 20 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 40, Shaheen Afridi 33*; Kuldeep Yadav 3/18, Axar Patel 2/18) lost to India 131/3 in 15.5 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 47*, Abhishek Sharma 31; Saim Ayub 3/35) by 7 wickets
What’s next for the teams?
With a spot in the Super Four almost in their grasp, India’s final group game will be against Oman on September 19. Pakistan will be in action two days prior to that though against UAE in Dubai. A win will likely be enough to get them through to the next stage, depending on the result of the UAE-Oman clash on Monday (September 15).
© Cricbuzz
