India brushed aside Pakistan by seven wickets, hurrying to a 128-run target in 15.5 overs with skipper Suryakumar Yadav clearing the midwicket boundary and rushing to the team dugout to steer clear of the customary post-match handshake.
It all happened in a flash, as Abhishek Sharma smashed a four down the ground and laced a six over cover with silken grace off the first two deliveries of the chase. Shubman Gill followed suit, giving Saim Ayub the charge and collecting two successive fours before being stumped by a carrom ball.
But it was only a minor hiccup as Abhishek continued to attack Shaheen, but played a shot too many and holed out at long-on to give Ayub his second scalp.
From there, Suryakumar and Tilak Varma never allowed Pakistan to believe again with their 56-run stand virtually putting the game beyond the scope of the opposition.
Earlier, Pakistan, questionably, chose to bat first after winning a toss that didn’t involve the routine formalities between the captains.
There was palpable nervousness in the Pakistani ranks, and it manifested through Ayub throwing his hands at an innocuous delivery wide outside off from Hardik Pandya that carried straight to Jasprit Bumrah at backward point. It was the first legal delivery of the match, and it set the tone for the rest of the evening.
Bumrah got into the act in the next over, by when Mohammad Haris, coming off a half-century against Oman, was already a bundle of nerves. He had swiped across the line and missed, and then went feeling for the ball outside off, only to loft it behind point with a whip of the bat.
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He perished off the first ball he faced from Bumrah, a biff on leg-side which Hardik serenely settled under. Bumrah proceeded to torment an old nemesis in Fakhar Zaman with a yorker that veered into his front foot; the umpire raised his finger, but the ball had pitched outside the leg stump by a whisker.
The calm authority that the Indians exuded became more pronounced through a torturous 12-over period of uninterrupted spin bowling that saw Pakistan lose six wickets for 57 runs between overs 7-18.
Kuldeep Yadav was devilish, Axar Patel metronomical, and even a slightly off-colour Varun Chakaravarthy returned one for 24 in four overs. Pakistan’s tryst with poor shot selection only served to highlight these traits.
Fakhar and Sahibzada Farhan’s 39-run alliance for the third wicket was the biggest of the innings but lacked impact. Fakhar had successfully deposited Varun for a four down the ground in the PowerPlay, but Kuldeep’s dip meant he couldn’t get under the ball when he reprised the shot and could only shovel it to long-on.
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Skipper Salman Ali Agha would have been happy to leave the field after trudging to 3 off 11 balls. Axar homed in on a good length at a near-identical pace, and Agha picked the one that bounced a little extra to find a top edge on the sweep.
Kuldeep also extracted some awkward bounce to lure Hasan Nawaz into an ill-fated sweep, and Pakistan had lost half its side by the 13th over.
Farhan’s stodgy 44-ball 40 included a six off Bumrah’s length ball over long-on. It drew gasps from a 20,000-strong crowd, but that was all the admiration Pakistan’s batters could draw.
There was batting insurance till No. 8, with Pakistan playing just three specialist bowlers, but it needed its No. 9 batter Afridi to make an impact with a 16-ball 33, which included four sixes, including two in the final over. However, they merely delayed the inevitable.
Published on Sep 14, 2025