India have started the Asia Cup 2025 on a fiery note with two dominating victories in the two matches competed in. The latest victory being against India's historical rivals Pakistan. Pakistan won the toss
and chose to bat in the contest. However, the Indian bowling unit did not let Pakistan catch a hold of themselves and took successive wickets at regular intervals, restricting them to a total of 127 for 9 wickets before chasing it down with seven wickets in hand and 4.1 overs to spare.
It was a show of pure class from the dynamic spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel who bowled crucial spells throughout the innings and clinched a total of five wickets combined. This lethal combo did not let Pakistan build any momentum through any partnership and helped the team to hold the grip over the game. This was Kuldeep Yadav’s second back-to-back man of the match winning spells as he clinched three wickets in this match and four wickets in the previous match against UAE. The duo were seen discussing the positives from the game following the end of the match, but before that, India's training assistant Nuwan Senevirathne gave away the traditional "Impact Player of the Match" to Axar Patel in the dressing room.
Watch the video here:
Kuldeep thanked Axar for his special advice which helped him throughout the Asia Cup 2025 clash vs Pakistan
Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, who play together for Delhi Capitals in the IPL, have been prominent figures for the Indian bowling attack for some time now. Kuldeep, who referred to Axar as "Captain" since he was playing under him in the IPL, stated that his advice of giving more spin to the ball really helped him in this match as he gained more bounce on the track due to it, making it more difficult for the batsmen to strike the ball.
Axar Patel stated that he analysed that the pace at which he had been bowling was not working, and which is why he took pace off the ball, helping him get just rewards. Both then engaged in playful banter, complimented the fielding display shown by the team and had a few words of praise for Suryakumar Yadav who played a captain’s knock to guide India to a comfortable victory by scoring unbeaten 47 runs off 37 balls. The duo looked excited for the matches lined up in the upcoming days.
