Suryakumar Yadav celebrated his 35th birthday in style by hitting an unbeaten 47 off 37 balls to guide India to a clinical seven-wicket win over Pakistan in a marquee Group A clash of the 2025 Men's T20 Asia Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium here on Sunday.
Earlier, India’s spin-heavy strategy proved decisive for the second game running. Left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav led the charge with figures of 3-18, while Axar Patel chipped in with 2-18. Varun Chakaravarthy had figures of 1-24, as the trio operated with remarkable control on a sluggish Dubai pitch to restrict Pakistan to 127/9.
The sluggish Dubai surface further aided India’s tweakers, whose control and variations left Pakistan struggling for momentum throughout their innings. While Sahibzada Farham top-scored with 40, a late flourish from Shaheen Shah Afridi, who hit an unbeaten 16-ball 33, gave some respectability to Pakistan’s low score.
Chasing 128 was always going to be an easy ask, and India cruised to victory with 25 balls to spare. It was a game where the reigning T20 World Cup champions showed how much superior they were to Pakistan in all aspects of the game.
After the chase was over, Suryakumar and Shivam Dube (10 not out) walked off briskly, with no handshakes exchanged between players once again or the support staff. It came in the backdrop of the game being played for the first time after heightened diplomatic tensions between the two teams earlier this year.
India’s easy chase was also helped by brisk contributions from Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma - both left-handed batters scoring 31 each, as India registered their second consecutive win in the tournament, which also boosts their net run rate.
Abhishek got India off to a blistering start by lofting Shaheen Shah Afridi straight over the umpire’s head for four and followed it up with a clean strike over long-off for six. Shubman Gill hit two sublime fours off Saim Ayub before the batter was stumped for 10.
Abhishek continued his blistering assault by slashing Shaheen behind point for four with an open bat face, before whipping him over mid-wicket for six. Ayub came for a thrashing from Abhishek when he lofted and drove through extra cover for consecutive boundaries.
But Ayub had the last laugh as Abhishek didn’t get elevation after dancing down the pitch for a loft and holed out to long-off for 13-ball 31. Tilak reverse-swept and lofted Mohammad Nawaz for a brace of superb fours, as India ended power-play at 61/2.
With Suryakumar looking comfortable and hitting precise boundaries off spinners, Tilak continued the good work by slog-sweeping Muqeem for a gigantic 98m six and got a reprieve on 30 when Nawaz dropped the return catch after three attempts.
Tilak was finally dismissed when Ayub got the ball to grip and turn a lot to knock over the off-stump. Suryakumar kept going by cutting and hammering Nawaz for two boundaries before sweeping Ayub through deep backward square leg for four, while Dube lofted the latter over long-on for six. Suryakumar finished off the chase in style by hocking Muqeem for six and sealed the deal in clinical fashion.
Pushed into bowling first, India began with a bang as Hardik Pandya had Ayub square driving straight to point, as the batter bagged his second straight golden duck. Jasprit Bumrah struck in his first over when Mohammad Haris tried to heave off him, but miscued to deep backward square leg.
Fakhar Zaman, after surviving an lbw appeal off Bumrah, set the tone for rebuilding Pakistan’s innings by swivelling and flicking Pandya for boundaries, before drilling Chakaravarthy straight down the ground for another four. On the other hand, Farhan lofted and pulled Bumrah for a brace of sixes, as Pakistan ended the Power-play with 41/2.
But with run flow tightened after that, Zaman tried to break free, but holed out to long-on off Axar, who later had a struggling Salman Agha top-edge a sweep to deep square leg. Kuldeep entered the wicket-takers’ list by having Hasan Nawaz miscue a slog-sweep to leg gully, who ran in from slip and followed it up by trapping Nawaz lbw with a googly for a golden duck.
Farhan tried holding the innings together – whacking Abhishek for six, before pulling Axar for four, while Faheem Ashraf slapped Kuldeep over extra cover for a boundary. But Kuldeep struck again by enticing Farhan to slam a wide googly down the ground and was caught by long-on, followed by Chakaravarthy trapping Ashraf lbw.
A brace of sixes from Shaheen and Muqeem, striking Bumrah for consecutive boundaries, took Pakistan past the 100-run mark. After Bumrah sent Muqeem’s bails flying with a pinpoint yorker, Shaheen whacked Pandya for consecutive maximums and ensured Pakistan crossed the 120-mark, which was always going to be inadequate for a marauding Indian batting line-up to hunt down.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 127/9 in 20 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 40, Shaheen Shah Afridi 33 not out; Kuldeep Yadav 3-18, Axar Patel 2-18) lost to India 131/3 in 15.5 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 47 not out, Abhishek Sharma 31; Saim Ayub 3-22) by seven wickets