India stamp authority on Pakistan

Dubai: India’s spinners turned the Asia Cup clash into a one-sided affair on Sunday, as Kuldeep Yadav’s guile and Axar Patel’s precision dismantled a hapless Pakistan batting line-up that never found its footing, paving the way for a commanding seven-wicket win in front of a crowd overwhelmingly dominated by Indian supporters. Calls for boycotting the game in protest against the Pahalgam terror attack earlier this year had little impact on attendance, with fans witnessing a

clinical performance that saw Pakistan restricted to a modest 127 for nine before India chased down the target in just 15.5 overs. The evening was punctuated by drama beyond the cricket as well, with Indian players pointedly avoiding handshakes with their Pakistani counterparts at both toss and finish, underscoring the tense backdrop to a match that was as politically charged as it was sporting.

Spinners Axar (2/18 in 4 overs), Kuldeep (3/18 in 4 overs) and Varun (1/24 in 4 overs) were immaculate in terms of line and length as none of the Pakistani batters showed the wherewithal to play the troika from their hands.

The result was a lowly 127 for nine from Pakistan which was at least 50 runs below the par-score.

In reply, Abhishek Sharma (31 off 13 balls) flayed their biggest bowling hope Shaheen Shah Afridi (0/23 in 2 overs) with utter disdain,

while Suryakumar celebrated his 35th birthday with a fine 47 not out off 37 balls in a chase that was completed in 15.5 overs.

Suryakumar finished it off in style and then walked straight back to the dug-out without shaking hands with the Pakistan players on the field.

The match was won in the first innings itself when Axar, Kuldeep and Varun delivered 40 dot balls between them and cumulatively took 6 for 60 in their 12 overs.

Add another 15 dot balls from Jasprit Bumrah (2/28 in 4 overs), and one can understand the plight of the Pakistani batters, who played dot balls worth 10.1 overs.

Bumrah’s greatness could be gauged by the fact that on the day he was hit for his first six in a limited overs international (T20Is and ODIs combined) by a Pakistani batter after sending down 400 legal deliveries. Had Shaheen Shah Afridi (33 not out off 16 balls) not used the long handle, the score wouldn’t have gone past 125.

During the chase, Abhishek deflated the Pakistani hopes with a straight boundary and then a couple of sixes to up the ante.

Even after Shubman Gill (10) was quickly dismissed and Abhishek departed inside the fourth over, Suryakumar and Tilak Naidu (31 off 31 balls) didn’t look in any hurry while adding 56 runs for the third wicket.

Earlier, Suryakumar lost the toss, didn’t shake hands with his counterpart Salman Ali Agha, but never lost the plot as the opposition batters were all at sea from the very first legal delivery, when the highly rated Saim Ayub (0) slashed one off Hardik Pandya (1/34 in 3 overs) to Bumrah at point. Bumrah in the next over got last match’s top scorer Mohammad Haris (3) who tried a pick-up pull shot, but this time, Pandya returned the favour to India’s lead pacer by taking a well-judged catch in fine leg region.

Sahibzada Farhan (40 of 44 balls) did hit Bumrah for a couple of sixes but largely couldn’t read any of the Indian spinners as dot balls accumulated by the dozen.

It was not just poor shot selection but also lack of technique that troubled the Pakistan batters against the world’s top spinners.

Only Fakhar Zaman (17 off 15 balls) could be excused for taking risk against Axar as he has had a good career match-up against slow left-arm orthodox bowlers.

Moments after Axar was brought into the attack, Fakhar went for the jugular and was caught at long-on by Tilak Varma.

Since they were unable to read the Indian wrist spinners from their hands, the Pakistani batters went for the obvious but high-risk option of playing the slog sweep. Both skipper Salman (3 off 12 balls) and the hard-hitting Hasan Nawaz tried to hit out of trouble without gauging the length and extra bounce.

The left-handed Mohammed Nawaz found Kuldeep’s googly too hot to handle. Farhan, who not for once dominated the spinners, holed out in the deep off Kuldeep as Pakistan’s woes against India in multilateral events continued.with agency inputs