India beat their arch-nemesis Pakistan by six wickets in the Super Four phase of the Asia Cup. The clash happened at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday, September 21. The Men in Blue seemed to be overawed by Pakistan’s blistering batting performance in the first half of this match. Yet, half-centuries from openers Abhishek Sharma (74) and Shubman Gill (47) took care of the niceties later on. Pakistan batted first in this outing and put up a competitive 171-5 on the board in their quota of 20 overs. After a lot of fumbling in the dark, opener Sahibzada Farhan seemed to be the answer to all of Pakistan’s prayers as he lit up the night sky with a 45-ball 58, which consisted of five boundaries and three sixes.
The right-hander, however, had little support from his teammates. No other Pakistani batter managed to cross the thirty-run mark. Saim Ayub and Mohammad Nawaz were the two next highest scorers for the Shaheens with identical scores of 21. Indian seamers Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah suffered at the hands of the Pakistani top order. Each gave away runs at an economy rate of 9.70 and 11.20, respectively, but their spinners managed to turn the tables around. Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel put the brakes on the Pakistan batting unit and prevented their total from going too close to 200.
Despite picking up just one wicket between them, the spin trio stifled Pakistan with their accuracy in the middle overs. Plus, part-time bowler Shivam Dube picked up a couple of wickets with his military medium pace, and India were able to keep their target down to a par score. In response, India started their innings on a thunderous note with openers Sharma and Gill going at breakneck speed against Pakistan’s seamer Shaheen Afridi. Spinners Saim Ayub and Abrar Ahmed also suffered at the hands of this Punjabi opening duo.
All three bowlers – Afridi, Ayub and Ahmed- conceded runs at more than ten per over. By the time Gill was dismissed in the tenth over of the innings, India were cruising towards victory. Captain Suryakumar Yadav did not trouble the scorers. However, Tilak Varma, who walked in at number four, contributed with a handsome 17-ball 30. The Hyderabad batter seemed at ease against the Pakistani bowlers and played delightful strokes using the full face of his bat. Sanju Samson scored a 17-ball 13 and then Hardik Pandya struck a run-a-ball seven to take India home comfortably in this emotional fixture.
India have now won all the matches they have played in this tournament. They will next take on Bangladesh on September 24. Pakistan, having lost their opening match of the Super Four stage, are now at a disadvantage. They must win their next two games, against Sri Lanka on September 23 and Bangladesh on September 25, to make a beeline for the final. It will be played in Dubai on September 28.
