India Crush Pakistan by 7 Wickets to Stay Unbeaten in Asia Cup

India lost two early wickets, but Abhishek Sharma gave the team a fast start with a 31-run knock. Captain Suryakumar Yadav (47) and Tilak Varma (31) then guided the team to a comfortable 7-wicket win over Pakistan in their Group A match of the Asia Cup on Sunday. Saim Ayub was Pakistan’s best bowler, picking up 3 wickets.

India on Top of the Table

This win makes India the only team with two victories in the tournament so far, nearly securing their spot in the Super 4s. Before that, Suryakumar Yadav and his team will play their last group match against Oman on Friday. Pakistan will now have to bounce back quickly and face the UAE in a must-win game. If they succeed, they may meet India again next Sunday. Oman and UAE are both winless so far but will face each other on Monday, meaning one of them will finally earn points.

Indian Spinners Lead the Way

Earlier in the game, India’s bowlers completely dominated, limiting Pakistan to just 127 for 9. Kuldeep Yadav’s skill, Axar Patel’s accuracy, and Varun Chakravarthy’s clever bowling left the Pakistani batters struggling. Axar took 2 for 18, Kuldeep picked up 3 for 18, and Varun got 1 for 24 – all from their four overs. Pakistan found it hard to handle the spin attack and failed to build partnerships. Together, the three Indian spinners bowled 40 dot balls. Jasprit Bumrah added 15 more dot balls, showing how difficult India made it for Pakistan. Shaheen Shah Afridi helped boost the score with a quick 33 off 16 balls. Without his late hitting, Pakistan would have struggled to cross 125.

Early Wickets Set the Tone

Suryakumar Yadav lost the toss and did not shake hands with Pakistani captain Salman Ali Agha, but his team stayed focused. The game turned from the very first over, as Saim Ayub (0) was caught at point off Hardik Pandya’s bowling.
Bumrah struck in the next over, dismissing Mohammad Haris (3), the previous game’s top scorer. This time, Pandya took a good catch in the fine leg area. Though Sahibzada Farhan scored 40 off 44 balls and hit a couple of sixes, he struggled to read the spinners and kept losing momentum. Fakhar Zaman (17 off 15) tried to take on Axar but ended up getting caught by Tilak Varma at long-on. Pakistan batters failed to read the Indian wrist spinners, and instead of playing carefully, tried risky slog sweeps. Skipper Salman (3) and Hasan Nawaz both got out playing poor shots. Mohammad Nawaz couldn’t handle Kuldeep’s googly, and Farhan, who was never in control, was caught in the deep as India’s strong record over Pakistan in multi-team events continued.