Asia Cup: India routed Pakistan by 8 wickets in first clash; Battle is still On
India crushed Pakistan in their long-awaited Asia Cup match which failed to live up to its hype
DUBAI (AFP) - India crushed Pakistan by eight wickets in their long-awaited Asia Cup match which failed to live up to its hype in Dubai on Wednesday.
Pace spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3-15) and part time off-spinner Kedar Jadhav (3-23) sent Pakistan, who won the toss and batted, collapsing to just 162 all out in 43.1 overs at Dubai Stadium.
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Pakistan, who won the toss and batted, collapsing to just 162 all out in 43.1 overs at Dubai Stadium. Photo: PCB Pakistan
Skipper Rohit Sharma then struck three sixes and six boundaries in his 39-ball 52 while fellow opener Shikhar Dhawan hit a six and six fours in his 54-ball 46 as India romped home in 29 overs.
Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik both finished on 31 not out as India exacted some revenge for their humbling 180-run defeat against their arch-rivals in the final of the Champions Trophy in London last year -- the most recent match between the teams until Wednesday.
Both Pakistan and India had already qualified for the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup and will meet again in Dubai on Sunday.
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Pakistan and India had already qualified for the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup and will meet again in Dubai on Sunday. Photo: AFP
Bangladesh and Afghanistan meet in Abu Dhabi in the last Group B match on Thursday, having already qualified for the second round after Sri Lanka crashed out.
The top two teams from the Super Fours will play the final in Dubai on September 28.
"Our spinners kept it tight, got the odd breakthrough, but the wickets in the first couple of overs were very important," said Sharma, standing in for regular skipper Virat Kohli rested for this event.
"It was important to get early wickets because Pakistan have got some quality in the batting. So we didn’t want to make things easy for them. We kept things on the stumps and we spoke about not giving Pakistan room."
Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed blamed poor shot selection for his team’s demise.
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Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed blamed poor shot selection for his team’s demise. Photo: PCB Pakistan
Batted poorly
"We didn’t have a good start," said Sarfraz, whose openers departed for just three runs. "Lost two wickets in the first five overs.
Then regular wickets meant we couldn’t come back into the game. You can say we batted poorly."
Once Pakistan’s unpredictable batting crumbled, Wednesday’s match turned into a damp squib for a near-capacity crowd comprising of Indian and Pakistani expats living in the United Arab Emirates.
Kumar ran through the top order by dismissing openers Imam-ul-Haq (two) and Fakhar Zaman (nought) inside five overs, before Babar Azam (47) and Shoaib Malik (43) rebuilt the innings during their 82-run stand for the third wicket.
But after Azam was dismissed in the 22nd over, bowled by left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav, Pakistan lost their last seven wickets for 77 runs.
Azam hit six boundaries in his 62-ball knock while Malik, dropped on 26 by MS Dhoni off Hardik Pandya, cracked one six and one four in a vigilant innings which lasted 67 balls.
Sarfraz (six) became Jadhav’s first wicket, holing out to long-on where substitute fielder Maneesh Pandey completed a brilliant catch, throwing the ball back into the field to avoid running over the rope and completing the catch.
But it was Malik’s run out which derailed Pakistan, sent back by Asif Ali after setting off for a quick single.
Paceman Jasprit Bumrah took 2-23 but India lost all-rounder Hardik Pandya to injury.
Bowling his fifth over, Pandya fell in his follow through and was stretchered off with a lower back injury, the extent of which was being assessed by the India team’s medical staff.
India crushed Pakistan by eight wickets in their long-awaited Asia Cup match which failed to live up to its hype. Photo: PCB Pakistan
Pak Vs IND - Complete Scoreboard
Completed scoreboard of the Asia Cup Group A match between Pakistan and India in Dubai on Wednesday:
Pakistan
Imam-ul-Haq c Dhoni b Kumar 2
Fakhar Zaman c Chahal b Kumar 0
Babar Azam b Yadav 47
Shoaib Malik run out 43
Sarfraz Ahmed c sub (Pandey) b Jadhav 6
Asif Ali c Dhoni b Jadhav 9
Shadab Khan st Dhoni b Jadhav 8
Faheem Ashraf c Dhawan b Bumrah 21
Mohammad Amir not out 18
Hasan Ali c Karthik b Kumar 1
Usman Shinwari b Bumrah 0
Extras (lb6, nb1) 7
Total (all out; 43.1 overs) 162
Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Imam), 2-3 (Zaman), 3-85 (Azam), 4-96 (Sarfraz), 5-100 (Malik), 6-110 (Asif), 7-121 (Shadab), 8-158 (Ashraf), 9-160 (Hasan)
Bowling: Kumar 7-1-15-3, Bumrah 7.1-2-23-2, Pandya 4.5-0-24-0, Chahal 7-0-34-0, Yadav 8-0-37-1, Rayudu 0.1-0-0-0, Jadhav 9-1-23-3
India
R. Sharma b Shadab 52
S. Dhawan c Azam b Ashraf 46
A. Rayudu not out 31
D. Karthik not out 31
Extras: (nb2, w2) 4
Total: for two wkts; 29 overs 164
Did not bat: K. Jadhav, M. Dhoni, H. Pandya, K. Yadav, Y. Chahal, B. Kumar, J. Bumrah
Fall of wickets: 1-86 (Sharma), 2-104 (Dhawan)
Bowling: Amir 6-1-23-0, Shinwari 4-0-27-0 (1nb), Hasan 4-0-33-0, Ashraf 5-0-31-0 (2w, 1nb), Shadab 1.3-0-6-1, Zaman 6.3-0-25-0, Malik 2-0-19-0
Result: Indian win by eight wickets
Toss: Pakistan
Umpires: Marais Erasmus (RSA) and Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SRI)
TV umpire: Gregory Brathwaite (WIS)
Match referee: David Boon (AUS)
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