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Asia Cup 2018: All-round India clinched an easy victory against Pakistan
By Sandy - Sep 20, 2018 12:59 am
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India clinched an easy 8-wicket victory (with 126 balls remaining) against their arch-rivals Pakistan in the Group A game of the Asia Cup 2018 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. With this victory, India reaches to the Super Four round as Group A champions while Pakistan advances to the Super Four round as Group A runners-up.

Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed decided to bat first after winning the toss. Both the Pakistan openers Imam-ul-Haq (2) and Fakhar Zaman (0) fell very early in the innings as Pakistan went down to 3/2 in 4.1 overs.

Also watch: Bhuvneshwar Kumar Dismisses Both The Pakistan Openers

No.3 batsman Babar Azam and no.4 experienced batsman Shoaib Malik rescued the team from that early collapse and provided an 82-run partnership for the third wicket. However, both the batsmen missed their respective half-centuries as Azam scored 47 off 62 balls (6 fours) and Malik played a knock of 43 runs off 67 balls (only four and only six).

Shoaib Malik and Babar Azam

Between that partnership (during the 18th over of the innings), Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya suffered an acute lower back injury and stretchered off the field with the bowling figure of 4.5-0-24-0.

Once that third-wicket partnership was broken, Pakistan lost their next wickets in regular intervals that ended their innings on just 162 runs in 43.1 overs. Apart from the lower-order batsmen Faheem Ashraf (21) and Mohammad Amir (18*), none of other Pakistan batsmen reached the double-digit scores.

Indian cricket team

Among the Indian bowlers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/15) and Kedar Jadhav (3/23) bagged three wickets each while Jasprit Bumrah (2/23) got two wickets and Kuldeep Yadav (1/37) picked up one wicket.

Also watch: Manish Pandey’s Phenomenal Catch At The Boundary

In reply, Indian opening batsmen – skipper Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan – provided the 86-run partnership that helped the team to win the game comfortably. Rohit scored 52 runs off 39 balls (6 fours and 3 sixes) while Dhawan scored 46 off 54 balls (6 fours and only six).

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan

Also watch: Usman Khan Faces The Music, Directed By Rohit Sharma

The next two batsmen Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik finished the game comfortably with an unbeaten 60-run partnership for the third wicket as both the batsmen remained not out on 31 runs. India chased down that total comfortably in 29 overs after losing only their both openers.

Among the Pakistan bowlers, only Faheem Ashraf (1/31) and Shadab Khan (1/6) were able to pick up wickets during Indian innings.

Here are some Twitter reactions:

Tags Asia Cup 2018Babar AzamBhuvneshwar KumarIndian cricket teamPakistan Cricket teamRohit SharmaShikhar DhawanShoaib Malik

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