Dubai: India restricted Pakistan to a modest 127/9 in their Asia Cup Group A match at Dubai International Stadium on Sunday evening.
Skipper Salman Agha’s decision to bat first after
act-between-captains-after-toss-salman-agha-opts-to-bat-first/”>winning the toss backfired straightaway as Hardik Pandya dismissed Saim Ayub with the game’s first delivery. Jasprit Bumrah (2/28) doubled Pakistan’s agony with the scalp of Mohammad Haris with his second delivery, in the next over.
Pakistan recovered partially from 6/2, but India’s spinners then took charge to strangle the inexperienced batting lineup.
They failed to pick chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, who finished with 3/18 after having bagged 4/7 against the UAE four days ago. Axar Patel enjoyed figures of 2/18 in his 4 overs and Varun Chakravarthy chipped in with 1/24.
Sahibzada Farhan top-scored with 40, but it came off 44 balls – too slow for a T20 game. It was Shaheen Shah Afridi’s cameo of 33 not out (16 balls, 4×6) that carried Pakistan past the 120-run mark after 5 of the top 7 batters fell for single-digit scores.