Bowlers propel India to win against arch-rivals Pakistan in Asia Cup clash in Dubai

Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel shared five wickets between them to help India set up a seven-wicket victory against the arch-rivals Pakistan in the politically-charged Asia Cup match in Dubai.

India chased down the target of 130 for the loss of three wickets with 4.1 overs to spare after restricting Pakistan to 129/9. India kept their stranglehold, defeating Pakistan for the 11th time in the last fourteen meetings—including T20Is and ODIs.

Indian players refused to shake hands after the match, trying to resonate the sentiments of the people back home after the latest military skirmishes between the two nations.

A 56-run partnership between Tilak Verma and Suryakumar Yadav put all the doubts to rest after Pakistan did try to make some inroads through their bowling as Saim Ayub dismissed Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma for 41.

Earlier, Indian spinners, led by Kuldeep Yadav, wreaked havoc. They ripped through Pakistan's batting line-up. India played with three spinners—Kuldeep, Patel, and Varun Chakravarthy while Abhishek played the role of a part-time fourth spinner, who conceded a combined 65 runs in their 13 overs put together, picking up six wickets.

Kuldeep and Patel took three and two wickets, respectively, while Chakravarthy picked one as they obliterated Pakistan’s batting line-up.

Pakistan got off to a disastrous start as they lost two wickets with just six runs on the board. Pandya dismissed Ayub, who was trapped for a naught. Ayub scored a second consecutive golden duck and third in his last five innings, including this match, with the highest being 17.

In the next over, Haris holed out to Pandya off Bumrah. They would have been bowled out for under 100 if three decision reviews had not gone in their favour.

Fakhar Zaman took the first review after he was declared out against the bowling of Bumrah in the second over. The decision went in the favour of Zaman as the ball seemed to be going down the leg side. He added another 16 runs to his score after getting the reprieve.

Zaman and Farhan shared a 39-run stand for the third wicket—the highest of their innings—in a bid to put the stuttering innings back on track.

When they were looking set, Patel struck to break the dangerous-looking partnership and triggered the collapse. The dismissal of Zaman opened the floodgates for Indian spinners, who tested the might and skill of the Pakistani batsmen.

Patel also got rid of Salman Agha, who survived an lbw appeal after being given out. Salman took a review in the ninth over off Chakravarty. The third umpire turned down the decision as Pakistan heaved a sigh of relief.

Chakravarthy bowled a googly, and Salman tried to play a paddle sweep across the line. He missed it completely as the ball went on to hit the pads. The umpire had no hesitation, but the replays showed the ball was missing the stumps by a whisker.

Kuldeep took two wickets in the same over to heap more misery on Pakistan. He dropped Hasan Nawaz off his own bowling in the 13th over.

But Hasan failed to capitalize on the chance and holed out to Patel off the next delivery without adding any runs to his score. He also got rid of Two balls later, Kuldeep caught Mohammad Nawaz plumb in front of the wickets as Pakistan were reduced to 64/6.

Chakravarthy also rode the wave as he trapped Faheem Ashraf before Kuldeep sent back the other opener, Sahibzada Farhan, who also has been out of form recently as well. His scores in the last five innings had been 8, 18, 6, 0, and 29 before this match. This was his chance for redemption.

He did try to wage the battle single-handedly and went past his highest score of the last five matches, scoring a patient 40.

But that was not enough as the wickets were tumbling on the other end. Pakistan's main problem has been their opening partnership. Both the openers are out of form, which puts them on the back foot from the beginning.

Shaheen Afridi played a blitzkrieg cameo of 35 off 16 balls to propel the score to a respectable total of 129/9 after Pakistan were left tottering at 97/8. Shaheen’s knock was studded with four sixes.

Bumrah rattled the stumps of Sufiyan Muqeem to pick up his second scalp. Bumrah got hit for a six after 400 balls in white-ball cricket when Farhan took him for the maximum.