Wrist-spinner Yadav’s 4-30 and Varma’s 69 not out helps India beat Pakistan by five wickets to win Asia Cup in Dubai
India’s Kuldeep Yadav (right) celebrates the wicket of Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridi during the Asia Cup final in Dubai on Sunday. Pic/AP; PTI
It’s not every day that a team loses its last nine wickets for just 33 runs in a Twenty20 International, and still manages to play itself into a position of strength.
That’s precisely what Pakistan did at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, in a tense final of the Asia Cup, before India sealed it in style to clinch the trophy with five wickets in hand.
Put in by Suryakumar Yadav, Pakistan got off to a blazing start through form batter Sahibzada Farhan and the experienced Fakhar Zaman, and set primed for a grandstand finish when they reached 113 for one after 12.5 overs.
Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan after reaching his half-century. Pic/Getty Images
Kuldeep Yadav, who didn’t have a great start to Sunday’s title clash, dismissed Saim Ayub, the No. 3, to a sharp catch at point by Jasprit Bumrah. That was the catalyst for a collapse of extraordinary proportions. As well as India, led by Kuldeep’s left-arm wrist-spin, bowled and caught, Pakistan must hold themselves responsible for a series of poor strokes that set them crashing to 146 all out with five deliveries left unutilised.
Whatever was said at the break worked wonders. Having seen India hunt down targets of 128 and 172 with consummate ease earlier in the tournament, Pakistan came armed with a definite gameplan that revolved around their new-ball bowlers taking pace off the ball. That ploy paid handsome dividends as Abhishek Sharma, the tournament’s leading scorer, and skipper Suryakumar Yadav, in the middle of a horror run, perished to Faheem Ashraf and Haris Rauf respectively.
Abhishek goes early
Abhishek, who had made at least 30 in each of the six preceding matches, had set the tone for India with his blazing pyrotechnics. His fall off the seventh delivery of the chase triggered nerves, for some strange reason, in the Indian camp, and when Gill followed his opening partner and then his captain to the hut, caught trying to club another Ashraf slower ball, India were in a deep hole at 20 for three after four overs.
Tilak Varma and Sanju Samson rebuilt cautiously. Aware that another wicket would be calamitous, especially with India missing the injured Hardik Pandya, they took their time while adding 57 but Samson perished to leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed, leaving it to Tilak and Shivam Dube to push the chase forward. Tilak unfurled the big strokes when required without taking too many undue risks with 17 coming off Haris Rauf’s second over and 11 from Abrar’s next, which left India needing 36 off the last four overs.
Farhan shines
In the evening, it seemed as if Farhan didn’t want to leave the scoring to anyone else as he took command right from the beginning, once again targeting Bumrah even as Dube made a steady start with the new ball in Pandya’s absence. After a couple of exploratory overs, Farhan pulled away while Zaman was content to play second fiddle; India felt the heat as the runs came far too quickly for their liking until Varun Chakravarthy provided them the breakthrough by having Farhan caught on the boundary off a pull.
There was no sign of the mayhem to follow when Zaman and Ayub unhurriedly took the score to 113 when Kuldeep broke through. That set the cat among the pigeons as Pakistan imploded sensationally.
Nine
No. of wickets Pakistan lost for just 33 runs. They collapsed from 113-1 to 146 all out
Brief scores
Pakistan 146 all out in 19.1 overs (S Farhan 57, F Zaman 46; K Yadav 4-30, J Bumrah 2-25; A Patel 2-26, V Chakravarthy 2-30) lost to India 150-5 in 19.4 overs (T Varma 69*, S Dube 33; F Ashraf 3-29) by five wickets
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